Vita Michael Wachtler

He was born in 1959 in South–Tyrol (Italy) - San Candido, in the heart of the Dolomites Mountains. In his youth he participated in a lot of expeditions all around the world together with other crystal searchers and fossil hunters. These experiences led to in a deep love for nature. As many others he was attracted to mountain–climbing but he early turned his back to this field in order to find his love “inside the mountains”. Michael Wachtler discovered new forms of fossilized plants. He studied some of them in cooperation with European universities. So the important Voltzia dolomitica, a Triassic conifer and Bjuvia dolomitica, the ancestor of cycads.   1970-1990 Crystal searcher and discoverer Michael Wachtler searches for crystals and petrifations in the Alps. In doing so he discovers a lot of new plants and fish and saurian species. Expeditions: 1981: India andNepal 1983: Namibia 1985: Galapagos - Peru 1980 – 1990 Founder of several newspapers. Important discoveries 1990: Voltzia dolomitica and Voltzia ladinica Michael Wachtler discovers two new primitive species of conifers. The two represent an essential step in the develompent of this important group of plants. They stand for the deciding passage of the primitive conufers to the moderns of today wich finally lead to the monkey puzzels and all the other species of conifers like the fir, the larch, the pine. He describes them together with the Dutch Professor Han van Cittert. Since 1990 Documentaries for television He realised 60 films about adventurers, crystal searchers in the Alps for ARD, RAI, BBC, ORF and other European broadcast associations.    1995: Bjuvia dolomitica and the beginning of the cycadees In the year 1999 Michael Wachtler finds the arguably oldest assured petrified relics of this species in the Dolomites. These residuals document for the first time how this interesting genus has come into being. The cycadees or fern palms belong to one of the oddest plant families. They emerged out of nothing, dominadet the world of plants in the times of the dinosaurs and are nowadays being repelled more and more. 1997 Dolomythos – the museum of the Dolomites Michael Wachtler founds „Dolomythos“, a museum containing the most beautiful treasures of the Dolomites. It is a voyage in to the reign of dinosaurs, the mysterious evolution of plants, masterpieces of nature´s Art.   Since 1998 Exhibitions He also organized a lot of exhibitions about the mysterious genesis of the Alps; so very successful one, was dedicated to the fascinating history of “mountain-films”. Trento (1999) Torino (2000), Rosenheim (Lokschuppen 2001, München, (2002) , Berlin (2002), Rovereto (MART) (2003) Bologna (2004 and 2005), Bard – Museo delle Alpi (2005)   Since 1998 author for several European publications. He is the author of more than 30 books. In English: The First World War in the Alps. Most of his books are edited in German and Italian. (The Great World War in the Alps, Ski History, Crystal Searchers). Articles for magazines as National Geographic, Trekking, Alpin. Searching crystals in the Hohe Tauern Crystal searching in Namibia Discoveries of the first new plants. They are new for the science Michael Wachtler a founder of newspapers top 1999: Megachirella wachtleri Michael Wachtler discovers a new kind of saurian named Megachirella wachtleri. It resulted to be on ancestor of lizards and snakes.   2000: A new coelacanth Michael Wachtler discovers an almost perfectly conserverd specimen of a 240 million years old coelactanth in the Dolomites. Thsi fish is considered a "living fossil" ans has been rediscovered only in 1938 in the Indian Ocean.   2001: Roman: “Die Felsenmenschen” Michael Wachtler publishes the novel "Die Felsenmenschen" where he tells how rocks turned into people.   2002: Treasuries of nature Together with the Carinthian Georg Kandutsch and other friends Michael Wachtler builds first “treasuries of nature”. Those are the“Tauernschatzkammer”  (Treasury of the Tauern) in the Malta Valley, “Dolomythos” in San Candido, “Crystalles” in Coldrano and the gold-digger village in Heiligenblut.   He attemts expeditions to the South-Seas to Vanuatu and the indigenous people and valcanos there (2002), to Kamtschatka, Russia`s untouched peninsula (2003), to Australia an New Zealand on the trail of the gold diggers and living fossils (2004). 2003: Masterpieces of Nature´s Art He creates „Masterpieces of Nature´s Art“.Those are big slabs full of petrifactions which are supposed to testify that nature is still the greatest artist of all. They are put up like drawings in various museum, e.g. Museum of Modern Arts in Rovereto (MART), Messner Mountain Museum. Michael Wachtler concerns himself with the First World War in the mountains. Successful books are published.   He realizeds that the deep sense of his life lies within the studies and the discovery of nature itself and not in climbing mountains like monkeys.    His book “Goldgrube Alpen” (goldmine of Alps) can be described as a testament of love for all the people who have collected and searched for the mysteries of mountains and who like himself have lived the very special moment of finding spectacular crystals, dinosaurs and archaeological relics. 2004:  The biggest gold finding of the Alps                 . Michael Wachtler and his friends Lino and Mario Pallaoro and Georg Kandutsch succeed in discovering the arguably giggest gold finding of the Alps in Brussoon in the Aosta Valley. They recover abaout four kilos of pure gold. 2005: Gordonopteris lorigae, a primordial fern  Michael Wachtler, Han van Cittert and Evelyn Kustatscher name a primordial fern, which has been discovered by Michael Wachtler, gordonopteris lorigae. This denomination is supposed to honorar the Scottish MAria Ogilvie-Gordon and Carmela Groglio, an Italian scientist. Maria Oglievie-Gordon was the first woman admitted to a course of study on universities in Great Britain and Garmany and was also a foundress of the equality movment. With this naming the three want to point out that also today the access to studies should not be determined by profession, distinction or finances. 2005: Through the undiscovered Dolomites Michael Wachtler marches a thousand kilometers cross-country and off the beaten track through the Dolomites. He surmounts over a hundred thousand meters of difference in altitude. He meets famous writers, adventurers and others in order to discuss with them about the future of this area. During this trip he sensationally discovers the ancestors of today`s moonwort, a mystical fern plant. 2006: Critics of today’s society Further publications about the mendacity and superficiality of today’s society, the madness about money and the senseless lifestyle will follow, like “Böses Buch vom braven Land” (“The bad book about the good country”) Expeditions to the Comores and Madagascar The new dinosaur “MEGACHIRELLA WACHTLERI" Expeditions all over the world With Edith Campei and the children Gaia, Alexa and Nicolas Looking for terra incognita With Erika and Helmut Simon, the finders of Iceman top