Wrong Impression

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany would like to draw the attention of The Rising Nepal to somewhat misleading information contained in the above mentioned article.

The article, "American Team finds ‘Mystiques’ in Nepal", published in your newspaper on 8 November 2000, creates the impression that Dr. Nina Jablonski herself has been researching in Nepal for the past 15 years.

To do justice to the long and outstanding work of Dr. Corvinus, the Embassy feels obliged to point out that the geological-palaeontological research in Nepal during the last 15 years was actually carried out by Dr. Gudrun Corvinus from Erlangen University. Her research was funded by the German Research Foundation through a 12 year grant and in close cooperation with the Central Department of Geology of Tribhuvan University. The Nepal German research collaboration is the oldest and major research cooperation in Nepal and, in fact, has been in existence for more than 40 years. It was first financed by the German Thyssen Foundation and later by the German Research Foundation.

Only in 1998, Dr. Jablonski (Academy of Sciences, California) and her husband, supported by a Fulbright Grant, joined Dr. Corvinus in her research work. The outcome of 2 years joint research of Dr. Corvinus and Dr. Jablonski-the discovery of fossil animal bones of 10 million years ago-is largely based on prior work of Dr. Corvinus funded by the German Research Foundation.

Embassy of the Dieter Ebser
Federal Republic of Germany, First Secretary
Gyaneshwar, Kathmandu