PD Dr. Martina Kölbl-Ebert
Wissenschaftlerin und Privatdozentin
LMU
Born in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany, I studied geology/palaeontology, obtaining a doctorate degree in geology from the University of Tübingen. After brief stops at the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum and the Geomar Research Centre in Kiel, I worked as curator at the Bavarian State Natural History Collections (SNSB) in Munich. In 2003, I became head of the Jura-Museum Eichstätt. In 2017, I obtained my Habilitation degree in history of science from the University of Hamburg. Since 2020, I work for the exhibition project GeoForum and also lecture at the LMU Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
CV Martina Kölbl-Ebert (PDF, 72 KB)
Internal
- Co-Head of the GeoForum team
External
- Secretary General of IUGS’s International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO)
- 2024 Sue Tyler Friedman Medal of the Geological Society of London for distinguished contributions to History of Geoscience
Research Interests
My main research interest is in the history of the geological sciences. Within this field I have focused on British female geologists in the early 19th century, on the historical relationship of geology and religion, on the history of impact crater research and most recently on geology in Nazi-Germany. In joint projects with my husband, Martin Ebert, I also work on functional morphology and ecology of fishes from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago.
History of the Geological Sciences
British female geologists in the early 19th century
Kölbl-Ebert M & Turner S (2016): Towards a history of women in the geosciences.– In: Mayer, W., Clary, R. M., Azuela, L. F., Mota, T. S. &Wołkowicz, S. (eds) History of Geoscience: Celebrating 50 Years of INHIGEO.– Geological Society, London, Special Publications 442: DOI 10.1144/SP442.16.
Kölbl-Ebert M (2020): Ladies with hammers – exploring a social paradox in the early 19th century of Britain.– In: Burek CV & Higgs B (2020): Celebrating 100 Years of Female Fellowship of the Geological Society: Discovering Forgotten Histories.– The Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 506, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP506-2019-193
Geology and religion
Kölbl-Ebert, Martina (editor) (2009): Geology and Religion: A History of Harmony and Hostility.– Geological Society, London, Special Publications 310: 357 pp.
Kölbl-Ebert M (2016): Thinking about the geosciences in their religious/philosophical context.– In: Mayer, W., Clary, R. M., Azuela, L. F., Mota, T. S. &Wołkowicz, S. (eds) History of Geoscience: Celebrating 50 Years of INHIGEO.– Geological Society, London, Special Publications 442: DOI 10.1144/SP442.5.
Kölbl-Ebert M (2021): The Physical Sciences.– In: Bullivant S & Ruse M (2021): The Cambridge History of Atheism.– 2 vols., Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press: 366–387.
Impact crater research in Germany
Kölbl-Ebert M (2015): From Local Patriotism to a Planetary Perspective – Impact Crater Research in Germany, 1930s–1970s.– Ashgate Publishing Ltd. xxii + 380 pp.
Geology in Germany 1933 to 1945
Kölbl-Ebert M (2017): Geology in Germany 1933–1945: People, Politics and Organization.– Earth Sciences History 36(1): 63–100.
Kölbl-Ebert M (2018): German petroleum geologists and World War II.– Craig J, Gerali F, Macaulay F & Sorkhabi R (eds) (2018): History of the European Oil and Gas Industry.– Geological Society, London, Special Publications 465: 391–407, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP465.1.
Kölbl-Ebert M (2023): Prehistoric archaeology in nazi Germany the role of Quaternary geologists.- Travaux du Comité français d’Histoire de la Géologie, 2022, 3ème série (tome 36 bis), pp.59-74.
Fossil Fish from the Solnhofen Archipelago
Functional morphology and ecology of fishes from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago
Ebert M, Kölbl-Ebert M & Lane J (2015): Fauna and Predator-Prey Relationships of Ettling, an Actinopterygian Fish-Dominated Konservat-Lagerstätte from the Late Jurassic of Southern Germany.– PLoS ONE 10(1): e0116140. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116140
Kölbl-Ebert M, Ebert M, Bellwood DR & Schulbert Ch (2018): A Piranha-like Pycnodontiform Fish from the Late Jurassic.– Current Biology 28: 3516–3521, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.013
Ebert M & Kölbl-Ebert M (2025): Jurassic fish choking on floating belemnites.– Scientific Reports 15: 16095 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00163-7