Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen

Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen
Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen (2009)
Born	(1929-07-09)9 July 1929
Died	3 June 2016(2016-06-03) (aged 86)
Fields	Malacology
Alma mater	Leiden University

Adolph Cornelis 'Dolf' van Bruggen (9 July 1929 – 3 June 2016) was a Dutch malacologist, entomologist, and botanist. His interest in the tropics and tropical Africa has dominated his broad scientific interest for more than 50 years now. He was an expert especially in the land snail families Streptaxidae, Achatinidae and Maizaniidae. As of 2008, he had authored some 655 scientific publications.

Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen was born on 9 July 1929, the eldest son of A.C. van Bruggen, Sr. and A.C.G. van Bruggen-van Eyk Bijleveld. He spent his youth in The Hague.Natural history and particularly animals always caught his attention. His father was a high-ranked civil servant at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie was administered by that ministry at the time, and when he graduated from the Gymnasium Haganum in The Hague in 1949, his father introduced him to Dr. Carel Octavius van Regteren Altena (1907–1976), curator of Mollusca at the museum, who stimulated his interest in malacology.

At Leiden University Dolf studied systematic botany, animal ecology and systematic zoology. In 1956 he graduated, after three years as an assistant to Prof. Dr. Hilbrand Boschma (1893–1976), the director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, who taught Systematic Zoology at Leiden University.