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Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl was born in Pretoria in 1887 and studied at Victoria College (today Stellenbosch University) before travelling to Germany to complete his doctorate in electrical engineering. While busy with his studies he unwittingly reinvented the thermionic valve that had first been developed by the American Lee de Forest in 1906. Van der Bijl’s research came to the attention of the American physicist Robert Millikan, who invited him to join his staff at the University of Chicago.

Date: 9 April 2019, Bloemfontein

The National Museum, Bloemfontein today unveiled the complete skull and skeleton of Tapinocaninus, which was a 3-metre long dinocephalian, an ancient ancestor of mammals.

The specimen is the most complete dinocephalian yet discovered and has been beautifully prepared by the University of the Witwatersrand. The fossil was loaned to the University as several blocks of rocks 29 years ago. It has now been returned to the National Museum as a fully prepared specimen, which will soon be placed on exhibit. A month ago, Bruce Rubidge, Romalo Govender and Marco Romano published the full skeletal description of Tapinocaninus in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.