Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (11 November 1878 - 20 October 1969) was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 paleontologist and geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

.
Janensch's most famous contributions stemmed from the expedition he led with Edwin Hennig to the Tendaguru Beds

Tendaguru

The Tendaguru Beds are a fossil-rich formation in Tanzania. It has been considered the richest of Late Jurassic strata in Africa. Continental reconstructions show Tendaguru to have been in the southern hemisphere during the Late Jurassic. Tendaguru is similar to the Morrison Formation except in...

 in what is now Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

. They recovered an enormous quantity of fossils of late Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 period dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

s, including several complete Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus

Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...

skeletons, then the largest animal ever known. Janensch discovered and named several new dinosaur taxa including Dicraeosaurus

Dicraeosaurus

Dicraeosaurus is a genus of small diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur. It was named for the spines on the back of the neck. The first fossil was described by paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914.Unlike most diplodocoids, Dicraeosaurus had a large head with a relatively short and wide neck...

(1914) and Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic of Tanzania. Elaphrosaurus was probably a ceratosaur about 6 meters long. Suggestions that it is a late surviving coelophysoid have been entertained but are generally dismissed. It was first...

(1920). Janensch's Brachiosaurus finds may belong to a distinct, related genus, Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan, meaning "giraffe titan", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period . It was originally named as an African species of Brachiosaurus...

, but this is controversial.

A native of Herzberg (Elster)

Herzberg (Elster)

Herzberg is a town in the Elbe-Elster district of the German federal state of Brandenburg.-Overview:As of 2004, its population is 10,968 and the mayor is Michael Oecknigk of the Christian Democratic Union....

, Werner Janensh was also curator of the Natural History Museum of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He died in Berlin in 1969.

Publications

• Janensch, W. 1914. Übersicht über die Wirbeltierfauna der Tendaguruschichten, nebst einer kurzen Charakterisierung der neu aufgeführten Arten von Sauropoden. Archiv für Biontologie 3(1):81-110.
• Janensch, W. 1920. Ueber Elaphrosaurus bambergi und die Megalosaurier aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1920:225-235.
• Janensch, W. 1922. Das Handskelett von Gigantosaurus robustus und Brachiosaurus brancai aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie 1922(15):464-480.
• Janensch, W. 1925. Die Coelurosaurier und Theropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 I(1):1-99.
• Janensch, W. 1925. Ein aufgestelltes Skelett von Kentrurosaurus aethiopicus E. Hennig aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 I(1):257-276.
• Janensch, W. 1926. Ueber Magensteine bei Dinosauriern aus Deutsch-Ostafrika. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1926:34-36.
• Janensch, W. 1929a. Die Wirbelsäule der Gattung Dicraeosaurus. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 2):39-133.
• Janensch, W. 1929b. Ein aufgestelltes und rekonstruiertes Skelett von Elaphrosaurus bambergi. Mit einem Nachtrag zur Osteologie dieses Coelurosauriers. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 I(2):279-286.
• Janensch, W. 1929c. Magensteine bei Sauropoden der Tendaguruschichten. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 1(2):137-143.
• Janensch, W. 1929d. Material und Formengehalt der Sauropoden in der Ausbeute der Tendaguru-Expedition. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 2):3-34.
• Janensch, W. 1931. Ein neu aufgestelltes Dinosaurier-Skelett vom Tendaguru in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Forschung und Fortschritte.
• Janensch, W. 1932. Das Zungenbein der Dinosaurier. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1932:229-234.
• Janensch, W. 1934. Eine halbseitige überzählige Wirbelbildung bei einem Dinosaurier. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1934:458-462.
• Janensch, W. 1935. Ein aufgestelltes Skelett von Dicraeosaurus hansemanni. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 2):301-308.
• Janensch, W. 1935-36. Die Schädel der Sauropoden Brachiosaurus, Barosaurus und Dicraeosaurus aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 1(2):147-298.
• Janensch, W. 1936. Über Bahnen von Hirnvenen bei Saurischiern und Ornithischiern, sowie einigen anderen fossilen und rezenten Reptilien. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 18:181-198.
• Janensch, W. 1937. Skelettrekonstruktion von Brachiosaurus brancai aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft 89(8/9):550-552.
• Janensch, W. 1938. Gestalt und Größe von Brachiosaurus und anderen riesenwüchsigen Sauropoden. Der Biologe 7(4):130-134.
• Janensch, W. 1939. Der sakrale Neuralkanal einiger Sauropoden und anderer Dinosaurier. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 21(3):171-193.
• Janensch, W. 1947. Pneumatizität bei Wirbeln von Sauropoden und anderen Saurischiern. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 3):1-25.
• Janensch, W. 1950a. Die Skelettrekonstruktion von Brachiosaurus brancai. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 3):97-103.
• Janensch, W. 1950b. Die systematische Stellung des Ornithopoden Dysalotosaurus aus den Tendaguruschichten. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 1950:286-287.
• Janensch, W. 1950c. Die Wirbelsäule von Brachiosaurus brancai. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 3):27-93.
• Janensch, W. 1955. Der Ornithopode Dysalotosaurus der Tendaguruschichten. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 I(3):105-176.
• Janensch, W. 1961. Die Gliedmaßen und Gliedmaßengürtel der Sauropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten. Palaeontographica, Supplement 7 (I, 3):177-235.

Sources

• Giant Leap for Paleontology Guardian Unlimited.
• Paleontologists - AllAboutDinosaurs.com
• Maier, G. African dinosaurs unearthed : the Tendaguru expeditions. Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2003. (Life of the Past Series).