- John Ostrom
Infobox Scientist
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name = John Ostrom
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caption = John Ostrom and "Deinonychus " skeleton cast. Photo courtesyYale University .
birth_date = birth date|1928|2|18
birth_place =New York City ,New York
death_date = Death date and age|2005|7|16|1928|2|18
death_place = Litchfield,Connecticut
residence =
citizenship =
nationality = American
ethnicity =
fields =Paleontology
workplaces =
alma_mater = Yale
ColumbiaUnion College
doctoral_advisor =
academic_advisors =
doctoral_students =Robert T. Bakker
notable_students =
known_for = The "Dinosaur renaissance "
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footnotes =John H. Ostrom (
February 18 ,1928 –July 16 ,2005 ) was an Americanpaleontologist who revolutionized modern understanding ofdinosaur s in the 1960s, when he demonstrated that dinosaurs are more like big non-flyingbird s than they are likelizard s (or "saurians"), an idea first proposed byThomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s, but which had garnered few supporters. The first of Ostrom's broad-based reviews of theosteology andphylogeny of the primitive bird "Archaeopteryx " appeared in 1976. His reaction to the eventual discovery offeathered dinosaurs inChina , after years of acrimonious debate, was bittersweet (Gentile, 2000).Early life and career
He was born in
New York City and studied atUnion College . He planned to be a physician like his father, but changed his mind after readingGeorge Gaylord Simpson 's book "The Meaning of Evolution". He enrolled atColumbia University and studied withEdwin H. Colbert .In 1952 he married Nancy Grace Hartman (d. 2003) and had two daughters: Karen and Alicia.
Ostrom taught for one year at
Brooklyn College and then spent five years atBeloit College before going to Yale. Ostrom was a professor atYale University where he was the Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology at thePeabody Museum of Natural History , which has an impressive fossil collection originally started byOthniel Charles Marsh . He died from complications ofAlzheimer's disease at the age of 77 inLitchfield, Connecticut .Warm-blooded "Deinonychus"
His 1964 discovery of "
Deinonychus " is considered one of the most important fossil finds in history [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/saurischia/dromaeosauridae.html] . "Deinonychus" was an active predator that clearly killed its prey by leaping and slashing or stabbing with its "terrible claw". Evidence of a truly active lifestyle included long strings ofmuscle running along the tail, making it a stiff counterbalance for jumping and running. The conclusion that at least some dinosaurs had a high metabolism, and thus were at least partiallywarm-blooded , was popularized by his studentRobert T. Bakker , and changed the impression of dinosaurs ascold-blooded , sluggish and slow lizards which had prevailed since the turn of the century.This changed how dinosaurs are depicted by both professional dinosaur illustrators, and in the public eye. The find is also credited with triggering the "
dinosaur renaissance ", a term coined in a 1975 issue of "Scientific American " by Bakker to describe the renewed debates causing an influx of interest in paleontology, which has lasted from the 1970s to the present and has doubled recorded dinosaur diversity."Archaeopteryx" and the origin of flight, and hadrosaur herds
Ostrom's interest in the dinosaur-bird connection started with his study of what is now known as the
Haarlem "Archaeopteryx". Discovered in 1855, it was actually the first specimen recovered but, incorrectly labeled as "Pterodactylus crassipes", it languished in theTeylers Museum in theNetherlands until Ostrom's 1970 paper (and 1972 description) correctly identified it as one of only eight "first birds" (counting the solitary feather).Ostrom's reading of fossilized "
Hadrosaurus " trackways also led him to the conclusion that these duckbilled dinosaurs traveled in herds.References
* "At Last, His Theory Flies". May 5, 2000. Olivia F. Gentile. "Hartford Courant".
* " [http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hagedorn/TechnicalWriting/Archaeoptryx.html "Archaeopteryx"] ". May 1975. John H. Ostrom. "Discovery", volume 11, number 1, pages 15 to 23.
* Obituary Los Angeles Times July 21, 2005External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1998/dinogarden.shtml Dinosaurs in Your Garden]
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