for Wiman's success, and actively promoted the project of an independent professorship in palaeontology and historical geology. This would later prove successful, with Wiman's obtaining a personal professorship in 1911, and finally a chaired professorship in 1922. Vertebrate palaeontology Wiman's fascination for vertebrate palaeontology began when he described fossil Eocene penguins and other birds found during the first Swedish Antarctic expedition of 1901-03. In 1908 he found in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, what he considered to be his most important discovery, a rich fossiliferous horizon, later known as the "Fish Horizon". It was important in the sense that it triggered a number of successful Swedish expeditions that focused on finding vertebrate fossils, resulting in the collection of several fish, marine reptile (majorly Ichthyosaurs), and Temnospondyli fossils, ultimately leading to the foundation of the Palaeontological Institute in Uppsala and the elevation of Swedish vertebrate palaeontology into the international limelight. In order to compare the Spitsbergen vertebrate fossils, Wiman purchased or collected fossils from Besano (Switzerland), Peterborough (England), and Holzmaden (Germany). Among the best of these specimens was a young Ichthyosaur with evidences of its soft parts preserved. In virtue of generous Swedish donors, Wiman's collection of reptilian fossils grew, and slowly became his principal field of interest. For example, he devoted much time and money to the Pterosauria and published several papers about that group. He was especially interested in the biological side of that subject and tried to elucidate the life of pterosaurs by studies on living Chiroptera (bats). Such experiments involved making them swim in warm water, for, as he pointed out himself, he did not want to treat the animals in an unfriendly way. Around 1920 Wiman's activity extended to foreign continents. Generous donations, in large part by the superintendent at the Royal Swedish Court, Axel Lagrelius, enabled Wiman to purchase and acquire a number of fine reptile specimens from Europe, North America, and from the famous American fossil hunter Charles Hazelius Sternberg, who made a special expedition to New Mexico for the Uppsala collections in 1921. Sino-Swedish collaboration Johan Gunnar Andersson, a prominent Swedish geologist and archaeologist, and Wiman's friend since early youth, was working in China in 1919. Hearing about this, Wiman obtained generous state grants, in large part because of his proximity to Lagrelius, which Wiman would use to fund several expeditions to China. The Chinese administration deliberately pursued the collaboration in order to be able to