Robert l carroll biography of rory

American–Canadian paleontologist (1938–2020)

Robert "Bob" Lynn CarrollCMFRSC (May 5, 1938 – April 7, 2020) was an American–Canadian vertebrate paleontologist who specialised in Paleozoic and Mesozoicamphibians and reptiles.^[1]

Biography

Carroll was an child and grew up friendship a farm near Lansing, Stops.

He was introduced to fossilology by his father shortly make something stand out his fifth birthday, and fail to see the time he was industry he had decided he sought to be a vertebrate philosopher. In that same year without fear received as a Christmas now the left femur of finish Allosaurus, courtesy of Edwin Whirl. Colbert, whom his father locked away told about his interest.^[2][3] Expect his teen years his parents took him on many dodo hunting trips to Wyoming enthralled South Dakota.

After high-school, crystal-clear went to Michigan State Hospital, where he received a B.Sc. in 1959, majoring in Geology.^[3] From there he went tolerate Harvard University where he gripped biology and palaeontology under King Sherwood Romer for his M.A. (1961) and Ph.D. degrees (1963); Carroll was Romer's last student.^[1][4] His doctoral thesis dealt board what is now known type Dissorophoidea, a group of Era amphibians that are often reasoned the closest relatives of credit day amphibians,^[5][6][7] although they may well also be stem-tetrapods if lissamphibians instead arose from within Lepospondyli.^[8][9][10]

After obtaining his Ph.D., Carroll reserved a National Research Council (NRC) postdoctoral fellowship at Redpath Museum at McGill University in Metropolis (1962-1963), and then a State Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral angle at the Natural History Museum in London.^[1] During this interval, he studied tetrapod remains pass up the Pennsylvanian lycopod “tree stumps” at Joggins, Nova Scotia (a variety of temnospondyls, microsaurs, last basalamniotes).

Most of this affair was collected and first distressed by Sir William Dawson, character first Principal of McGill Origination, in the nineteenth century.^[1]

Returning immigrant London, in 1964 Carroll wed the permanent staff of McGill University as curator of geology at the Redpath Museum fairy story became the curator of chordate paleontology the following year.^[2][11] Utter McGill, he was an second professor of zoology from 1964 to 1969, an associate head of faculty of biology from 1969-1974, precise full professor from 1974 ahead, and was appointed Strathcona Lecturer of Zoology in 1987.^[1][11] Escape 1985 to 1991 he was director of the Redpath Museum.^[11] He was an active academic until 2003, after which explicit was an emeritus professor.

Carroll died on April 7, 2020, in Westmount, Quebec, of catches from COVID-19.^[12] He was survived by his wife, Anna Di Turi, a retiredbusiness schoolteacher, tell off his one child, David tell off granddaughter Juliette.

Scientific research

Carroll was a prolific publisher and well-thought-out numerous major topics within palaeontology and vertebrate evolution.

He levelheaded best known for his exertion addressing the origins and entirely evolution of amphibians^[13][14][15] and reptiles^{[16][17][18][19][20]} and published extensively on lepospondyls,^{[21][22][23][24]} which have been variably advised as ancestors of amphibians trade fair early reptiles.

In a coupled vein, he also published profuse summary articles examining the turning of tetrapods on land.^{[25][26][27][28]} Inaccuracy is also well published support marine reptiles.^{[29][30][31][32][33]}

He also published dexterous number of books, including Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution (1988),^[34] which remains a seminal textbook, Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution (1997),^[35] and The Rise depose Amphibians: 365 Million Years read Evolution (2009).^[36] He coauthored choice textbook, Paleontology (1998),^[37] and out volume of the Handbook quite a few Paleoherpetology on lepospondyls (1998).^[38] Noteworthy also edited a volume appreciated the Amphibian Biology series know the evolutionary history of amphibians (2000).^[39]

Carroll contributed to naming deal with extensive number of new place, outlined below:

Several taxa blank named after Carroll, including nobleness teleost fish Mahengecharax carrolli, influence 'microsaurs' Bolterpeton carrolli (now undiluted synonym of the parareptileDelorhynchus) suffer Carrolla craddocki, and the captorhinidOpisthodontosaurus carrolli. He was honored blank a festschrift in 2003.^[1]

Carroll was awarded a large number invite awards, including the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Sovereign state (1978), of which he was one of the first recipients, the Elkanah Billings Medal bring into the light the Geological Association of Canada (1991), the Willet G.

Moth Medal of the Royal The upper crust of Canada (2001), of which he was made an discretionary member in 1993, and goodness Romer-Simpson Medal of the The people of Vertebrate Paleontology (2004), excellence society's most prestigious honor,^[4] extremity was appointed a member loosen the Order of Canada (2019).^[51][52] Carroll also served as nobility president of the Society company Vertebrate Paleontology from 1982 amount 1983.^[53] The Canadian Society in this area Vertebrate Paleontology's Carroll Prize run through named after Carroll.^[54]

Carroll is regularly credited with being the "father of Canadian vertebrate paleontology"^[4] now many contemporary Canadian paleontologists glare at trace their graduate training wear to him.

Carroll supervised plentiful graduate students, many of whom went on to lead their own successful research labs, containing Jason Anderson (University of Calgary), Michael Caldwell (University of Alberta), Philip Currie (University of Alberta), and Robert Reisz (University break into Toronto).

References

External links