RAKOVEC, Ivan
* 18. 9. 1899, Ljubljana, Slovenia
† 3. 8. 1985, Ljubljana, Slovenia
geologist, palaeontologist
R. studied geology and other natural science subjects at the University of Ljubljana and also Freiburg. He graduated in 1926 in Ljubljana, where he also took his doctor's degree in 1936. He went on study trips to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and England.
In 1932 he started holding lectures in geology and palaeontology at the University of Ljubljana where he became a full professor in 1946. He was elected a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts (SASA) in 1946 and became a full member in 1949, when he founded SASA's Institute of Palaeontology. He ran the Institute, which today carries his name, until 1973.
As a geologist he first dealt with the tectonics of the upper Sava valley in northern Slovenia. In his stratigraphic research he addressed the issues from the Triassic, Tertiary and Quaternary period, and in particular the developments in the Pleistocene period from a glaciological perspective. As a palaeontologist, R. dealt with the fossil fauna of invertebrates and later dedicated his work to the fauna of the Pleistocene period. His research into the Pleistocene mammal migrations in Europe led him to a realisation that mammals migrated into Slovenian territory only from eastern Europe and then further down the northern Adriatic. He enjoyed an international reputation as an expert in Tertiary mastodons and Deinotheriums.
