Eddie van Dijk

Author of Biology books for Secondary Schools
Emeritus professor of the university of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Member ot the Palaeonthology group of Stellenbosch University.

David Eduard van Dijk was born on 14 September 1925 in District Heidelberg, Transvaal. He attended school in Johannesburg and studied at the University of Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Teachers' Training College on a Transvaal Education Department Loan Bursary. He then went to Stellenbosch University where he obtained an MSc in 1953 and DSc in 1959. Somewhat more than a decade after his retirement, he undertook a second MSc (Palaeontology) at Stellenbosch University. This was awarded in 2000.
While repaying his Loan Bursary, he was a technician in the Bacteriology Laboratory of the South African Institute for Medical Research . Thereafter he lectured in the Zoology Department, University of Natal for approximately 30 years.
He has compiled bibliographies on African Anura (Frogs and Toads), African Tadpoles, African Fossil Frogs, and African Vertebrate Ichnology (Tracks and other Trace Fossils). Refer to www.vandijks.com for further detail. A compilation on African Fossil Insects is currently being considered. Unpublished work includes writings on aspects of science, in Afrikaans and English, and posters accompanied by minimal text, such as that on display at the Langebaan Fossil Site.
Eddie is married to Hester, née Heese, and has one daughter and two sons. He lives in Stellenbosch.
Hobby:Frogs and African Fossil Insects
Species named for him:
The frog, Afrana vandijki Visser & Channing, first known only as tadploes
The fossil plant bug, Australoprosoboloides vandijki Riek
The plant fossil, Estcourtia vandijki Anderson & Anderson
Each of Eddy's children has an insect fossil named for them by Riek.

Cape Slender-footed Frog ( or Banded Stream Frog) Strongylopus bonaespei, from Landdroskop remarkable for indications of melanism See also photo gallery of Amphibians	Shed skin of plant-bug related to "White-flies", from Mooi River, Natal, Permian (c. 230 million years ago)

Awards and Honours:
1953: British Association for the Advancement of Science Award and Junior Captain Scott medals for his M.Sc. research
Senior Kaptain Scott-Medal for Biology, 2010

List of publications:
Introduction to Modern Biology (Co-author:Smit, A.L.)
(For South African Schools and Training Colleges), Maskew Miller, (First Edition) 1970
A Guide to the Frogs of South West Africa (Co-author: Channing, A.)
Univ.Durban-Westville Press, Monograph Series 2, , 1976
Senior Sekondêre Biologie 8 (Co-authors Smit, A.L.; Fox, H.E.; Hennessy, E.F.; Nel, D.; Vorster, P.W.),
Senior Secondary Biology 8, Maskew Miller Longman, 1986
Senior Secondêre Biologie 10 (Co-authors Smit, A.L.; Fox, H.E.; Hennessy, E.F.; Nel, D.; Van Antwerpen, A.J.),
Senior Secondary Biology 10, Maskew Miller Longman, 1987
Senior Sekondêre Biologie 9 (Co-authors Smit, A.L.; Fox, H.E.; Hennessy, E.F.; Gebhardt, A.; Van Antwerpen, A.J.),
Senior Secondary Biology 9, Maskew Miller Longman, 1988

Chapters in books:
Ons bodem (bl. 4-9); Ons diereryk (bl. 12-14); Versteende lewe (bl. 15-18) In: Tuin-Provinsie Natal (ed Stoffel Nienaber) , Tafelberg-Uitgewers, 1977
Amphibia (pp. 193-206, co-author: Channing, A.) In: Wetlands of South Africa (ed. Cowan, G.I.), Pretoria, Dept.Environ.Affairs, v pp. 292 Errata 1-2, 1995