David Eduard van Dijk

David Eduard van Dijk
Born	(1925-09-14)14 September 1925 District Heidelberg, Transvaal, South Africa
Other names	Eddie
Alma mater	University of Witwatersrand
Known for	Vandijkophrynus
Spouse	Hester Edmundia (Nee Heese)
Children	Perdita Marguerita van Dijk Andre van Dijk Jacques van Dijk
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology, Paleontology
Institutions	University of Natal, University of Stellenbosch

David Eduard van Dijk (Eddie) (born 14 September 1925, District Heidelberg, Transvaal is a Zoologist and Paleontologist and author of a Biology Textbook.

He has multiple species named for him, including the frog, "Afrana vandijki" (Visser & Channing), first known only as tadpoles, the fossil plant bug, "Australoprosoboloides vandijki (Riek), the plant fossil, "Estcourtia vandijki" (Anderson & Anderson) and the genus Vandijkophrynus.

He has compiled bibliographies on African Anura (Frogs and Toads), African Tadpoles, African Fossil Frogs, and African Vertebrate Ichnology (Tracks and other Trace Fossils).

Education and career

He attended school in Johannesburg and studied at the University of Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Teachers' Training College on a Transvaal Education Department Loan Bursary. He then went to Stellenbosch University where he obtained an MSc in 1953 and DSc in 1959. Somewhat more than a decade after his retirement, he undertook a second MSc (Palaeontology) at Stellenbosch University. This was awarded in 2000.

While repaying his Loan Bursary, he was a technician in the Bacteriology Laboratory of the South African Institute for Medical Research. Thereafter he lectured in the Zoology Department, University of Natal for approximately 30 years.

Selected publications

• Smit, A.L.; van Dijk, D.E. (1970). Introduction to Modern Biology. Maskew Miller. ISBN 978-0636003811.

• Lacey, W.S.; van Dijk, D.E.; Gordon-Gray, K.D. (1974). "New Permian Glossopteris flora from Natal". South African Journal of Science. 70: 131–141.