D.Eduard van Dijk

David Eduard van Dijk (14 September 1925 – 6 March 2023) was a South African herpetologist, paleontologist and the author of a number of biology textbooks.

Education and career Van Dijk 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. Junior Captain Scott Medal for Biology (1956) Senior Captain Scott Medal for Biology (2010)

Selected publications van Dijk, D.E. (1955). The "Tail" of Ascaphus. (M.Sc Thesis)

van Dijk, D.E., Eriksson, Patrick G. (2021). Bipedal leaping Jurassic vertebrates in Southern Africa: proposed new ichnotaxon and inferred palaeoenvironment. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 10.1080/0035919X.2021.1964104.

Books