Studied history, global history and global studies at the University of Vienna; since 2017 provenance researcher at the Natural History Museum Vienna on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research.
Born in Vienna in 1885, Fritz Illner learned the profession of a road construction engineer.
After completing secondary school in Vienna-Ottakring, Othmar Kühn worked in the brewery in Hallein, returned to Vienna in 1914 and enrolled to study natural sciences, specializing in botany, at the University of Vienna.
The foundations for the collections in the future Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum) in Vienna were probably laid in 1748 by Emperor Francis I Stephan (1708–1765), who acquired a mineral collection from the Florentine scholar Jean de Baillou (1684–1758).
After completing secondary school in Vienna's 6th district, Friedrich Trauth studied Greek and Latin and then geology and palaeontology, took further natural science courses and obtained his doctorate in 1908 sub auspiciis imperatoris.