About the institute

In 1956, the erstwhile Zoological-comparative anatomical Institute was split up into three independent institutes: the Zoological Institute, the Zoological Museum, and the Paleontological Institute and Museum.

The incredibly successful excavations of vertebrate fossils from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio in Southern Ticino, conducted since 1924 by Bernhard Peyer and from 1950 on by Emil Kuhn-Schnyder, have largely contributed to the establishment of an independent paleontology in Zurich.

In 2024 the palaeontological exhibition was handed over to the newly founded Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich. The name of our institution has therefore changed to Department of Paleontology.

The first full professor for Paleontology at the University of Zurich was Prof. Dr. Bernhard Peyer, acting from 1943 to 1955.
He was succeeded by the following full professors, who simultaneously acted as the directors of the Department of Paleontology:

Information about our staff members can be found on the staff overview.

Information on the research done at the Paleontological Institute and Museum can be found on the research projects overview.