Paul F. Bruggemann (1890-1974)

Abstract

Mr. Paul F. Bruggemann, Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America and a former Editor of Arctic, died in Ottawa on 18 August 1974 after a prolonged illness. He was born on 28 February 1890 in Germany, where he received his formal education and graduated in mechanical engineering. His lifelong devotion to natural history began during his early years before the First World War, a period when he also developed an enthusiasm for aeronautics (he flew one of the early Wright machines) and succeeded in becoming a champion figure skater. His capacity for individual initiative showed itself in exploits as a motorcycle despatch rider during his war service in the German army. In 1926, he emigrated to Canada. He lived for 25 years in Lloydminster, Alberta, where he set up a small business for the repair of automobiles and farm machinery. During these years he also formed an extensive collection of moths, butterflies and plants from the surrounding region. He spent one winter alone in a small cabin in the forest country of northern Saskatchewan making a special study of English and the Scandinavian languages. In the spring of 1949, Paul Bruggemann joined the staff of the Entomological Research Institute of the Canadian Department of Agriculture as a field worker with the Northern Insect Survey. He continued in that capacity until 1954, conducting insect and plant surveys in the Dawson region of the Yukon Territory, and in the Northwest Territories in the region of Repulse Bay, Melville Peninsula, Alert and Eureka on Ellesmere Island, and Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island. While at the latter location he discovered a new species of grass which became known as Puccinella bruggemanni. During his winter breaks from field work he photographed type specimens of Lepidoptera for the International Union of Biological Sciences. Following his retirement from the service of the Canadian Government, he edited Arctic with distinction for the eight years 1956-64. He then broke new ground by becoming a free-lance translator into English, mainly of papers on biological subjects in German, French, Norwegian, Swedish and Portuguese - work which he continued until shortly before his death. Paul Bruggemann was a member of the Entomological Society of Canada and the Lepidopterists' Society, a contributor to an annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, the joint author of three publications on arctic botany and entomology, and the editor of a work on the flora of Alaska.