Lipke Bijdeley Holthuis was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 carcinologist

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

, considered one of the "undisputed greats" of carcinology, and "the greatest carcinologist of our time".

Holthuis was born in Probolinggo

Probolinggo

Probolinggo is a city on the north coast of East Java, Indonesia.Like most of northern East Java, the city has a large Madurese population in addition to many ethnically Javanese people...

, East Java

East Java

East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

 and obtained his doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 from Leiden University

Leiden University

Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...

 in 1946. He was appointed the assistant curator of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (now Naturalis

Naturalis

Naturalis is the national natural history museum of the Netherlands, based in Leiden. It originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie in 1984. In 1986 it was decided that the museum had to become a public museum and a new...

) in Leiden in 1941. He was the most prolific carcinologist of the 20th century, publishing more than 617 papers and books on many groups of crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s, their natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 and nomenclature, and the history of carcinology. 58 species of crustacean are named after him, all discovered between 1953 (Hippolyte holthuisi) and 2008 (Macromia holthuisi, Petrarctus holthuisi).

Additional information

• A selection of articles published by L.B. Holthuis for the Leiden Museum http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx?type=simple&c=naturalis&rgn1=entire+record&q1=L.B.+Holthuis