History of the Department
Paleontology has a long history at the museum, stretching from the 19th century until now. The Department of Paleobiology was formed in March 2013 when the former departments of Paleozoology and Paleobotany were merged.
Department of Paleozoology during the 20th century
The department of Paleozoology was established in 1864 and Nils Petter Angelin was appointed professor and curator of the paleozoological collections. These collections had been donated to the Royal Academy of Sciences when it was founded in 1739. Angelin was succeeded by Gustaf Lindström in 1876, and the latter by Gerhard Holm in 1901. These three scientists are known for accurate and fundamental descriptions of Swedish invertebrate fossils. The department was given a new research direction by Erik Stensiö, who became professor and head of department 1923. Stensiö founded the so-called Stockholm School for studies in the structure and evolution of vertebrates. Stensiö and his successors Erik Jarvik (professor from 1959 to 1973) and Tor Ørvig (professor from 1973 to 1982) focused on the "lower" vertebrates, from cyclostomes to transitional forms between bony fishes and amphibians.
With Valdar Jaanusson (1982-1989), Jan Bergström (1989-2004) and Stefan Bengtson (2005-2014), leadership was returned to experts on invertebrates, and research on vertebrates today focuses on Cenozoic mammals.
Paleobotany
The Department of Paleobotany was established in 1884-85 to house fossil plants collected on Swedish expeditions to the Arctic, as well as the museum's collections of cryptogams and gymnosperms. The explorer and researcher Adolf E. Nordenskiöld - perhaps best known for his discovery of the "Northeast Passage" - was instrumental in the establishment of the department and the appointment of Alfred G. Nathorst as the first professor (1884-1917). Paleobotany moved in 1915 from its original location on Wallingatan in central Stockholm, to the current location at Frescati.
Nathorst was followed by a succession of famous paleobotanists as heads of department; Thore G. Halle (1918-1950), Olof H. Selling (1951-1966), Britta Lundblad (1966-1986) and Else-Marie Friis (1987-2015). The fossil plant collections reflect the interests and activities of past and present scientists and explorers, and they contain many unique and important specimens. The majority of the collections come from Sweden's Mesozoic deposits and from the Arctic. There are also significant collections from Antarctica, South America and China, as well as smaller collections from many other areas of the world. Recently, exquisitely preserved angiosperm fossils from several Cretaceous localities in Europe have been added to the collections.
Together in the new Department of Paleobiology
In 2015, the paleobotanical collections and staff moved in with the paleozoologists and Professor Vivi Vajda from Lund University took over as head of the joint Department of Paleobiology. Vajda has a broad paleontological background and has researched microfossils, paleobotany and paleozoology with a focus on Scania's Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Under her leadership, the research focus has moved from a mainly descriptive paleontology to a combination of systematic paleontology and paleo-ecology and climatology. A great deal of effort has been put into the arrangement and registration of the collections, and their visibility the museum’s searchable online database.
Specimens from the Paleobiology department form the basis of many scientific articles, and much material is currently used in original research by scientists around the world.