Gertruda Biernat
Polish palaeontologist
Gertruda Józefa Biernat (March 17, 1923 – March 1, 2016) was a Polish geologist and paleontologist. During World War II, she joined the Polish resistance, participating in the Warsaw Uprising. She is noted for her work in identifying and studying brachiopods of the Ordovician period of the Paleozoic Era, and several have been named in her honor. Biernat worked at institutions of the Polish Academy of Sciences, published major works on brachiopods, participating in paleontological expeditions internationally, including leading a series of expeditions in the Arctic.
Early life and education
Biernat was born Gertruda Skonieczna in Opole Lubelskie, in eastern Poland on March 17, 1923. She grew up in Starogard Gdański, northern Poland.
After the war, she studied geology at the University of Poznań, gaining a masters of science in 1950.
Scientific career
Biernat worked at the University of Poznań after graduating, and then at the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1953, she was invited to join the new Institute of Paleobiology, a research institution established as a branch of the Academy in recognition of the work of its first director, Roman Kozłowski. She remained there until her retirement in 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gertruda Biernat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.