– July 24, 1994, Leiden) was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 zoologist, author, and lecturer.

Brongersma was born in Bloemendaal

Bloemendaal

Bloemendaal is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. According to the Dutch Central Statistical Bureau, Bloemendaal is the wealthiest place in the Netherlands.-Population centres :...

, North Holland

North Holland

North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...

 and earned his PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 1934. He was probably best known for his book European Atlantic Turtles , which was published in 1972, but he also served as the director of the Natural History Museum, Leiden and lectured at Leiden University

Leiden University

Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...

 until he retired at age 65. In the 1950s he led several expeditions to collect zoological specimens in New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and is credited with identifying several new species including the Boelen's Python, Morelia boeleni and the Savu Python, Liasis mackloti savuensis

Liasis mackloti savuensis

Liasis mackloti savuensis is a non-venomous python subspecies found in Indonesia.-Geographic range:The type locality given is "Savu Id." ....

. He was also a Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists is an international organization devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology and herpetology...

. He died at his home in Leiden in 1994.

Brongersma has been honored in herpetological

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

 taxonomic

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 nomenclature, having several species named after him, including the Red Blood Python, Python brongersmai and Brongersma's Pit Viper, Trimeresurus brongersmai

Trimeresurus brongersmai

Trimeresurus brongersmai is a venomous pitviper species found in Indonesia on the island of Simalur. The specific name, brongersmai, is in honor of Dutch herpetologist Leo Brongersma...

.