Bohumil Shimek (June 25, 1861 – January 30, 1937) was an American naturalist, conservationist, and a professor at the University of Iowa.

In 1866, the family moved to Iowa City to have access to medical care for his mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis.

Records show that between 1925 and 1928 Shimek had collected more than 10,000 specimens in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

He was also chairman of the geological section of the International Scientific Congress held in Europe in 1911 as a tribute to his important contributions.

After Czechoslovakian independence, Shimek was invited to the Charles University of Prague to teach botany as an exchange professor in 1914.

In a series of papers written in 1890, 1896, and 1898,[6] Shimek concluded that wind (rather than water) was responsible for the deposition of loess in eastern and western Iowa.

[7][8] On December 23, 1991, Shimek's house at 529 Brown Street in Iowa City was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.