#franz nopcsa

[queerasfact]

Did you known that the first person to hijack a plane was a gay palaeontologist?

When the Romanian army marched into Transylvania at the end of WWI, Franz Nopcsa - a Hungarian aristocrat - made the decision to flee. He didn’t have the necessary papers to leave the country, but he was able to use forged papers to get him a chartered flight to the border. Halfway there, he pointed a gun at the pilot, and demanded he fly all the way to Vienna, where they landed safely. The Romanians invited Franz to return in 1920 to work for the Geological Institute in Bucharest.

Learn more

[lindahall]

Franz Nopcsa – Scientist of the Day

Baron Franz Nopcsa, a Hungarian dinosaur expert, and an activist for political independence for Albania, was born May 3, 1877, in Transylvania, the central part of Romania.

read more...

[thirdactkerfuffle]

If he's not naming a species of Cretaceous turtle after your backside, is he even worth it?

[originalleftist]

The Fauna of Hateg Island

Hateg Island Appreciation Post!

It’s an ancient island in what is now Transylvania, in Romania. 

As noted in the video, it was about the size of Hispaniola (home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and pirate base of old). During the Late Cretaceous, it was home to a variety of small dinosaurs (a classic case of “insular dwarfism”, animals growing smaller due to limited space/resources, ie living on an island). And also home to some terrifyingly large pterosaurs.

The man who first researched it, Franz Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvas, is also a fascinating character. Per Wikipedia, he was a Hungarian scientist and nobleman, he supported Albanian nationalists against the Ottoman Empire, was a spy for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after Albania gained independence, tried unsuccessfully to become its first king. He was once taken hostage by bandits, and reportedly holds the dubious distinction of being the first person in history to hijack an aircraft. 

He was also a gay man, and had a long-running relationship with his Albanian secretary, Bajazid Elmaz Doda. His story ended horribly, however- he was left destitute by the fall of the Austro-Hungary empire at the end of World War I, sold his fossil collection to the Natural History Museum in London to pay off debts, and eventually committed murder-suicide, drugging and shooting Doda before shooting himself. 

[to-end-all-wars]

Baron Franz Nopsca:

Linguist, WW1 spy, Austro-Hungarian Nobleman, Seducer of wealthy women, Self-taught Paleontologist, gun runner, guerilla fighter, motorcycle enthusiast, one time claimant to the Albanian throne, first in history to hijack a plane and well known arrogant trust fund baby, I present the Shepard Prince of Transylvania, namer of turtles and lover of men, The Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás.

Born in Deva Transylvania (modern Romania) to an aristocratic family of Romanian and Hungarian origin.

Franz was the son of Baron Elek Nopsca, a member of parliament in the Hungarian government.

Franz developed a love of paleontology in his teens after his sister discovered bones on the family estate. It was in this field where he would meet the love of his life, Bajazid Elmaz Doda.

The two men would travel to Doda's homeland of Alabania to study fossils and perhaps take part in local dissent against the Ottoman overlords of the region.

After being rescued from a local warlord by his boyfriend's father, Nopsca turned to espionage, posing as a Shepard to spy during both the Balkan Wars and the First World War.

In 1919, Nopsca became the first person in history to hijack a plane when he fled a communist uprising in Hungary.

He and Doda then went on to tour Europe on a motorcycle, studying fossils and working as itinerant paleontologists. It was here that Nopsca would name a species of turtles after his boyfriends ass.

This story does not have a happy ending however, despite all its swashbuckling adventures and thrills.

Pressed financially and depossessed of his holdings in Transylvania, Nopsca turned to suicide in 1933 after drugging and killing Doda with a handgun.

[ironychan]

TIL that the man who proposed the theory of insular dwarfism, Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás, was also the first person ever to hijack a plane.

[legend-collection]

Ora

The Ora is an Albanian figure that every human possesses from birth, associated with human destiny and fate. Often depicted as three female deities, the Ora “maintain the order of the universe and enforce its laws” – “organising the appearance of humankind.”

The Northern Albanian Ora, along with the Zana, can be found within the folk beliefs and oral epics of the Gheg Albanians. Folk beliefs of the Southern Tosk Albanians reveal similar Albanian mythological figures of fate and destiny, the Mirai and Fatia.

The Ora reside towards the north of the Drin River in Northern Albania. Within Central Albania it was believed that the Ora were present everywhere, “listening to people’s blessings and curses, which they would then aim to quickly fulfil”. Outside of Central Albania Oras live in forests and mountains, residing in streams, lakes, and caves. Baron Franz Nopcsa related the term ‘Ora’ to the ancient Greek Oreads, “nymphs of the mountains”.

Extract from Songs of the Frontier Warriors (Mujo’s Ora’s), translated by Robert Elsie –

As Slavic Warrior Paji Harambashi searches for Mujo within the mountain ranges, he encounters three snow-white Oras – Mujo’s protectors.

“And turning, set off for the high mountain meadows, But nowhere upon them was he to find Mujo. Anger and rage of the shkja took possession.There in the moonlight at the edge of a fountain Did he encounter the three snow-white oras. In the light of the moon did they seem to be playing.”

— "Mujo's Ora's", Songs of the Frontier Warriors.

Within Albanian folklore and poetry, the Ora is a protective spirit that every human possesses from birth. The Ora's appearance alters according to the personality and attributes of the human – “a white Ora for the brave and industrious, or a black Ora for the lazy or cowardly.”

In Northern Albania, the Oras are represented – similarly to the Southern Albanian Fatia – as a group of three mythological goddesses who gather in the night to perform the task of “determining the child’s fate at birth” and distribute their favours upon the child. The inhabitants of the Dukagjini Mountains believed that three types of Fates existed: “e Bardha (The White One) distributes good luck and wishes humans well, e Verdha (The Yellow One) distributes bad luck and casts evil spells, and e Zeza (The Black One) who decides death”.

Within Albanian folklore and poetry, Ora had the ability to take any form they pleased, including “birds, beasts, women, or serpents.”

In Northern Albania, Oras “often appear as serpents.” – similarly to the Southern Albanian deity Vitore. Both the Ora and Vitore are “widely represented as a serpent with golden horns who brings gold.” Albanian stories describe beliefs associated with the protective serpent Oras. The mythological cycle of the ‘deeds of Muyi’ reveal the Ora’s ability to provide the hero with supernatural powers and healing while in the form of a serpent.

From Albanian literature translated by Robert Elsie -

“Can you see that Ora, standing at my bedside?

She holds vigil over me day and night.

This serpent slithers over my wounds to heal them.

God bestowed it upon me to come to my assistance.“

— Robert Elsie

Within Albanian folklore it was believed every person was assigned an Ora at birth, for there were “as many Ora as there were humans”. Ora travel with their person and provide protection. The Ora – similar to the ancient Greek Moirai – attend the birth of each child, determining their destiny while providing their blessings upon the child; “organising the appearance of humankind”.

With the birth of each child many Oras gather in the night towards the cliffs to decide upon the qualities that child would receive. Albert Doja refers to the studies of Maximilian Lambertz, revealing that the faces of the Oras change depending on the degree of happiness they bestow upon the newborn child. “Should an Ora howl at a person, the threads of their fate would be cut”. Once an Ora has been assigned to a newborn its appearance would change based on the qualities of the child; a “white Ora for the brave, or a black Ora for the cowardly”.

As discussed by Robert Elsie; tales and legends within Albanian folklore and poetry reveal the fundamental theme of the struggle between good and evil, “a reflection of social values as we perceive them”. “Traditionally sung in the far north of Albania”, Albanian oral literature has preserved many archaic elements, revealing traces of Greco-Roman mythology within, including the mythical Ora.

Songs of the Frontier Warriors – described by Robert Elsie as one of “the best-known cycles of Albanian epic verse.” The earliest written account of the epic was in Northern Albania in the early twentieth century, by Franciscan priests located in the mountains.

Revealed are the tales and adventures of warrior Gjeto Basho Mujo and his brother Sokol as they travel through what is now Albania. A pronounced mythological component to the text is revealed, as the brothers engage with mystical creatures that help them throughout their journey – one of those creatures being the Ora.

Slavic warrior Paji Harambashi’s encounters three white oras, mystical creatures in the mountains “who revel and frolic” as he searches for Mujo. An Ora is made a victim by Paji as he clenches and crushes its arm. The three Ora then seek the help of Mujo to seek revenge on Paji.

Extract from Songs of the Frontier Warriors (Mujo’s Ora’s), translated by Robert Elsie -

“Oh oras, to whom do you render assistance?”

One then strolled near him and spoke to him, saying:

“The oras we are of the great earthly hero,

We give our aid to Gjeto Basho Mujo!”

Great was the rage that the shkja felt for Mujo!

Seizing the arm of one of the oras,

He clenched it and squeezed it and crushed it to pieces.”

— "Mujo's Ora's", Songs of the Frontier Warriors.

Mujo’s brother Halili sets out to search for the only one he wishes to marry, Tanusha - the daughter of the King in the Realm of the Christians. On his journey he encounters an Ora who assists him and guides him towards Tanusha.

Extract from Songs of the Frontier Warriors (The Marriage of Halili), translated by Robert Elsie –

“I’m on my way to the Realm of the Christians,

There to encounter one Vukë Harambashi.”

The mountain ora then burst into laughter,

The young man himself was perplexed and did wonder

What kind of being was standing before him.

The ora turned now and began to inform him, …

Vukë Harambashi you’ll never encounter

For the Realm of the Christians he’s long since departed,

But come over here, young man, in my direction…”

— "The Marriage of Halili", Songs of the Frontier Warriors.

On his journey, Mujo meets an Ora who tells him he must slay Slavic warrior Behuri. As Mujo and Behuri duel, the Ora intervenes guiding Mujo to distract Behuri and use the poison dagger which the Ora had hidden on Behuri, to slay him. With the Ora’s guidance Mujo slays his rival, revealing the Ora’s ability to provide aid and guidance to its allocated person when they are in need.

Extract from Songs of the Frontier Warriors (Mujo and Behuri), translated by Robert Elsie –

“ In flight an ora hastened to him …

'Oh look, the sun!' shout to Behuri,

And when he turns his head to see it,

Put your hand in his left pocket,

There you’ll find a poisoned dagger,

And if you skilfully manoeuvre,

The shkja will look at you no longer.”

— "Mujo and Behuri", Songs of the Frontier Warriors.

Zuku Bajraktar captures his mother’s secret lover, Slavic warrior Baloz Sedlija, as his prisoner. Afraid of Zuku’s strength, his mother offers to blind her son. Zuku, taunted and captured is blinded by his mother. “Wandering aimlessly in the mountains, the blind Zuku is met by an ora who restores his sights with some herbs and tells him to take vengeance”. At midnight, Zuku slays Slavic warrior Baloz Sedlija, and burns his mother to her death.

Extract from Songs of the Frontier Warriors (Zuku Bajraktar), translated by Robert Elsie –

“For my mother, she did blind me.

The oras turned to him, responding:

You must give your word of honour,

To take vengeance on your mother,

We’ll restore your eyesight to you,

And make your eyes as you once had them.”

— "Zuku Bajraktar", Songs of the Frontier Warriors.

Syri i Keq is “one of the curses of Albania”; the Evil Eye. Evil Oras and devils would appear at night and then vanish at the “first cock-crow two hours after midnight, as they were now powerless”. Throughout Albania people would wear many types of charms to ward off the evil oras and devils. Children may have a coin tied to their forehead, or blue glass beads could be attached to the hair of both children and horses. Edith Durham reports that the dried head of a snake, cut off with a large silver medjidieh (coin) is a “very good charm” against the Evil Eye. It would be wrapped with a silver medal of St. George, then blessed by a priest - providing protection against the evil Oras and devils when worn.

Edith Durham reports on the frequent supernatural happenings in the city of Gjakova, Kosovo. In the mountain side on the road to Prizren remains a cavern that travels “miles underground - some say even beneath the Drin”. A large abandoned ancient city remains within the cavern, with a bazar “stocked with all of the finest and best fruit, flesh, fish, and fair raiment”. Evil oras disguised as serpents would guard the cavern; for if any man were to touch the items within the ancient city, they would “devour him in the darkness”. Durham’s studies within Albania reveal that no man has ventured within the cavern for many years.

Albert Doja reveals beliefs about the protective ‘house snake’ throughout Albanian culture and superstitions. One must never disturb a snake, even if it’s found within a baby’s cradle as “it is the ora that belongs to the house and the baby”. As the Ora provided protection, their appearance as a serpent could also foretell unfortunate events. If you cross paths with a snake before sunrise or after sunset it “foretells the death of some of your relations.”

Within Albanian folklore, the role of the Ora tends to differ. The Ora are often described as good mythological figures that offer their protection and help, but in several tales are depicted as negative and dangerous creatures. Within Albania, people believed the Ora would protect them, while others believed the Ora were dangerous creates with evil purposes. Durham reports that supernatural happenings within Albania would act as a caution, with many refusing to travel anywhere near areas believed to be cursed and/or protected by the Ora.

[wuxiaphoenix]

Book Review: Science Comics Dinosaurs Fossils and Feathers

Science Comics Dinosaurs Fossils and Feathers, by MK Reed and Joe Flood. Five of five stars; light, but good and well-researched facts, entertainingly written.

When you’re researching material for worldbuilding, or just reading up on a subject for fun, don’t neglect the juvenile and Young Adult sections of your library. One of the most interesting books I’ve read on piracy in the Caribbean was a biography of Captain Henry Morgan, labeled as juvenile, but over 300 pages of thoroughly researched and referenced history. This book is 120 pages of comics, but it covers a lot of dinosaur history - and the history of what we knew and when we knew it - in a way that both informs and engages the laughs. Nice.

For example, they end most sections with a sum-up of what we knew when. “In the year 1800.... The Earth is 6,006 years old. Dinosaurs are known as monsters. They lived a few thousand years ago... We are certain about all of this.” That “certain” turns up many, many times, until the last such entry. “In the year 2000.... The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Dinosaurs are known as extinct reptilian ancestors of birds. They lived 250 to 65 million years ago.... We are pretty sure about all of this.”

(Book then proceeds to some of the newest facts at the time of publication, with the outright statement that known info will change!)

There are a lot of great vignettes of the lives of people involved. Mary Anning, one of the first fossil hunters in England who uncovered the first whole skeleton of Ichthyosaurus. The Bone Wars between ED Cope and OC Marsh, that ended up with government audits and Marsh’s collection seized for the Smithsonian. Baron Franz Nopcsa of Transylvania (yes, that Transylvania!) who discovered dwarf dinosaurs in Hatzeg. And of course Roy Chapman Andrews, real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, who spied in WWI and later led expeditions to Mongolia that found the first dino eggs.

A lot of these I knew about from other sources, but many I’d never heard of before, including the mineralogist Harry Heiss, running his fathometer on a submarine throughout WWI and finding the first details on the Atlantic seafloor that indicated the ocean was geologically young. As in, some of the first solid evidence that plate tectonics might be real, and not dreamed up by some crazy German meteorologist.

There’s also a rather amusing “shot” of a theater playing Jurassic Park to sum up “what we knew about dinosaurs as of 2000”.

I’ll admit one of the highlights for me was page 112. Basically an addendum page added just before publication, it recounted short details of the naming saga of Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus. Long story short: as of 2015, fellow Brontosaurus fans, we win! It’s a legit genus!

...Dinosaurs in Dracula country. Come on, somebody’s gotta do a story with that!

[queerasfact]

Bajazid Elmaz Doda (left) and Franz Nopcsa (right).

Bajazid and Franz met in Bucharest in 1906. Bajazid was a young man who had left his Albanian village looking for work. Franz was an aristocratic palaeontologist and ethnographer with an interest in Albania. The two men became lovers, and spent the next 27 years together, travelling Albania and then settling in Austria. Bajazid wrote his own ethnographic work, recording the culture of Upper Reka Valley where he had grown up, and his fears for its destruction in WWI. His village, Stirovica, was razed by the Bulgarian army in 1916.

Sadly, suffering from depression, on 25 April 1933, Franz shot Bajazid, and then himself, killing both men.

Learn more

[vanquisherofsnails]

A gay, titled, dinosaur hunter. Amazing🎉 No one is doing it like Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás

[raph-fangirl]

Didn't that guy Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás say dinos were birds in the 1800s? Sorry if my history is a little rusty not sure when exactly he said that

What's most amazing about people who hate that birds are dinosaurs is that, without the discovery of birds being dinosaurs in the 1960s, none of y'all would have ever actually cared about dinosaurs

the history:

dino craze in 1800s. people thought, birds are very similar to these guys. Dollo fucked it up, made a bad theory, and people stopped thinking that

Early 1900s, dinosaurs deemed sluggish, stupid, pointless evolutionary failures. most people not really into dinosaurs anymore. this continues until

1960s: Deinonychus discovered. suddenly, dinosaurs interesting again: vibrant, lively, warm blooded animals. Also... birds might be dinosaurs?

from the 60s through the 70s, a slow buildup of dinosaur culture - both in crappy stop motion movies, but also in children's books and other media

80s cladistics revolution shows birds are living dinosaurs, though not without flaws. documentary after documentary is made, causing the major dinosaur boom of the late 80s and early 90s

the peak of this boom are the A&E and PBS documentaries, which both outright state birds are dinosaurs

cartoons like land before time and other dinosaur content keep coming out too, especially at the end of the 80s and the earliest 90s

the book jurassic park, referencing the birds are dinosaurs thing, is written in the late 80s. in the early 90s, is adapted into one of the greatest blockbusters of all time. now dinosaur interest is MAINSTREAM.

jurassic park isn't the start of the dinosaur boom, it is the apex

90s becomes the decade of dinosaurs, with tons of new discoveries, television shows, documentaries, and other programming

1996 first feathered "nonavian" dinosaur discovered. birds are dinosaurs is the closest thing we have to proven phylogenetic fact

1999 walking with dinosaurs premieres, revolutionizing the dinosaur-documentary genre.

early 2000s becomes the age of Period-Type Dino-Docu-Dramas

velociraptor is determined to have feathers

suddenly, dinosaur mania starts to die in the later 2000s

even though discoveries keep happening and we learn so much in the 2010s, the 2010s becomes a very regressive time - a sort of reactionary response to the birdification of dinosaurs and the dinosaurification of birds. the height of this is jurassic world

we may be in the middle of a dino-docu-drama revitilization thanks to prehistoric planet. stay tuned on that one

like, everyone was fine with the birdification of dinosaurs up and until they looked "feminine" on the outside, because of feathers.

It's just all such transparent misogyny and homophobia and people who react against feathered dinosaurs or birds being dinosaurs are just... so transparently parroting conservative talking points

Anyways, yeah. without birds are dinosaurs, you wouldn't have jurassic park. Sooooo

[valigarmander]

[to-end-all-wars]

Baron Franz Nopcsa

An Austro-Hungarian nobleman who fought in the many Balkan conflicts leading up to WW1.

During the war he acted as a spy in Transylvania by disguising himself as a shephard.

He is likely the first ever person to hijack plane, proposed to make himself a sugar baby for an wealthy american heiress in order to fund more weapons for his men and had a extensive career in paleontology after an unsuccessfulbid to become king of Albania.

He would commit sucide shortly after killing his boyfriend in 1933.

[yourdailyqueer]

Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 3 May 1877  

RIP: 25 April 1933

Ethnicity: White - Austrian/Hungarian

Occupation: Aristocrat, adventurer, scholar, geologist, paleontologist, albanologist

Note: Widely regarded as one of the founders of paleobiology, and first described the theory of insular dwarfism. He was also a specialist on Albanian studies and completed the first geological map of northern Albania.

[starboymp3]

can u believe that the first man who ever hijacked an aircraft was a gay hungarian paleontologist ??? he was trying to escape from the hungarian soviet republic in 1919