Re: [Fwd: paleontologists]

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 09:52 AM 4/27/98 -0700, Rude Wolf wrote:
>Nah, it's Holtz

I wish!!  I hope to make it into the class of these three guys someday.
Actually, all of them were VERY influential in my interest and professional
development in dinosaur paleontology.

Luis Rey wrote:
>It's a draw: Ostrom, Bakker & Currie.
>
>Ostrom because he changed the essence of our view of dinosaurs
>Bakker for being the force of Nature that shook and keeps shaking
>everything  and everyone else.
>Currie for his dedication and professionalism.

And I (Holtz) add the following notes:
What do we mean by "most important" paleontologist?  Osborn's theories on
evolution as a process and the particular evolutionary schemes of some
groups (theropods, humans) were a bit odd at best and held up fruitful
research at worst, but he was astoundingly important in marshalling the
resources for the American Museum's unparalleled collection.

On the other hand, Dolf Seilacher was unfamiliar to many on this discussion
group prior to DinoFest, but he has been a major influential thinker in
whole schools of paleontology: the study of trace fossil; the link between
developmental plans and functional anatomy; Precambrian macropaleontology;
and so on.

I find this exercise a bit misguided.  It's sort of like asking "What is the
most important fossil found in the 20th Century?".  The best part about the
20th century is that there are SO many paleontologists working on SO many
subjects that we have an abundance of riches from which to choose.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661