close
Jump to content

Paul Sereno

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul C. Sereno
Sereno in 2010
Born (1957-10-11) October 11, 1957 (age 68)
Aurora, Illinois, U.S.
Alma materNorthern Illinois University (B.S., Biological Sciences, 1979)
Columbia University (M.A., Vertebrate Paleontology, 1981; M. Phil., Geological Sciences, 1981; Ph.D., Geological Sciences, 1987)
Known forDiscoveries in paleontology; founder of Project Exploration
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsPaleontology (vertebrate)
InstitutionsUniversity of Chicago
Doctoral students
Jeffrey A. Wilson
Sereno

Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger.[1] One of his widely publicized discoveries includes a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator commonly referred to as SuperCroc, sail-backed spinosaurids Suchomimus[2]and Spinosaurus.[3]Widely publicized archaeological finds were made at Gobero, a site he discovered preserving intact burials from prehistoric cultures living in a formerly Green Sahara.[4]

Biography

[edit]

Youth and education

[edit]

The son of a mail carrier[5] and a celebrated art teacher in elementary schools in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, Sereno graduated from Naperville Central High School in 1975.[6] Aiming to be a studio artist, he enrolled later that year as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. In 1978 during his junior year, a trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York changed the course of his career.[7]

Academic career

[edit]

Early career

[edit]

In 1979 Sereno entered Columbia University as a graduate student with office space at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1984, he conducted an 8-month research expedition abroad to study dinosaur evolution for his dissertation. This work took him to the Flaming Cliffs of Outer Mongolia, a site previously explored by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s, where dinosaur eggs and Velociraptor fossils had been discovered.[8]

In 1987 Sereno received a Ph.D. degree in Geological Sciences from Columbia University, his dissertation focusing on the parrot-beaked dinosaur Psittacosaurus and the evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs.[9]

Teaching

[edit]

Sereno taught human anatomy to medical students. He also taught Dinosaur Science, a class that included field trips to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. During these field trips, Sereno discovered a subadult Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and a dinosaur mummy zone.[10] Sereno taught another course, From Fossils to Fermi's Paradox, which featured university scholars discussing evidence for the evolution of intelligence on Earth and the possibility of intelligence elsewhere.[11]

Research

[edit]
2014 VOA report about Spinosaurus with interview of Sereno

Sereno's research combines insights into the morphology of fossils with an artistic background that facilitates visualization in two and three dimensions using artistic renderings, surface and computed tomographic scans and animation. Well-illustrated papers describe new dinosaurs and more distant species and new methodologies for documenting the past.[12]

Science learning and civic engagement

[edit]

Science learning

[edit]

In 1998, Sereno co-founded Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization. In 2021, Sereno founded the Scitopia Foundation, a non-profit science education organization. Scitopia Chicago, the foundation's flagship institution, launched on the south side of Chicago in 2026.[13]

Scitopia Chicago offers science programs and labs for teens conducted outside school hours. The facility houses multiple civic institutions on a single site, including a library, community center, conservatory, zoo, aquarium, and museum.[14]

Civic engagement

[edit]

Fossil Lab

[edit]

In the 1940s, the University of Chicago closed its Walker Museum, which had housed collections of recent and fossil specimens and a fossil preparation laboratory. In 2024, Sereno opened a fossil laboratory with 6,000 square feet in the adjacent Washington Park neighborhood.[15]

Extinct taxa described by Sereno or his team

[edit]

Dinosaurs

[edit]

Other fossil reptiles

[edit]

Documentaries featuring Sereno and his discoveries

[edit]

In addition to his many discoveries in the field, public communication has been a big part of Sereno's career.

Year Title Producer Featured Fossils (Sites)
1991 At the Forefront Kurtis Productions, Ltd., PBS
1992 Fragments of Time New Explorers, PBS Eoraptor (Argentina)
1992 The Dinosaurs! - Flesh on the Bones WHYY-TV, PBS Herrerasaurus (Argentina)
1993 The Next Generation, 1% Inspiration WNET, PBS
1994 Skeletons in the Sand New Explorers, PBS (Niger)
1995 Paleoworld - African Graveyard, Part I: Hunting Dinosaurs The Learning Channel (Morocco)
1995 Paleoworld - African Graveyard, Part II: Discovering Dinosaurs The Learning Channel (Morocco)
1996 Paleoworld - Flesh on the Bones The Learning Channel Deltadromeus, Carcharodontosaurus (Morocco)
1997 Beyond T-Rex Discovery Channel Carcharodontosaurus (Morocco)
1998 Colossal Claw National Geographic Explorer Suchomimus (Sahara)
1998 Dinosaur Fever National Geographic Explorer sauropods (Niger)
1999 Africa's Dinosaur Giants National Geographic Explorer Jobaria (Niger)
2001 SuperCroc NBC/NGC Sarcosuchus
2006 Sky Monsters NGC pterosaur (Niger)
2009 Bizarre Dinos NGC Nigersaurus, Raptorex, Mykocephale
2009 When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs NGChannel BoarCroc, PancakeCroc, DuckCroc, DogCroc, RatCroc (Sahara, Australia)
2013 Skeletons of the Sahara NOVA-NGTelevision humans (Gobero, Niger)
2014 Bigger than T. rex NOVA-NGTelevision Spinosaurus (Morocco)

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Briggs, Helen (December 12, 2007). "New meat-eating dinosaur unveiled" (Web). News article about; Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis was one of the largest meat-eaters that ever lived. BBC News. Retrieved December 15, 2007.
  2. ↑ Sereno, Paul C.; Beck, Allison L.; Dutheil, Didier B.; Gado, Boubacar; Larsson, Hans C. E.; Lyon, Gabrielle H.; Marcot, Jonathan D.; Rauhut, Oliver W. M.; Sadleir, Rudyard W.; Sidor, Christian A.; Varricchio, David D.; Wilson, Gregory P.; Wilson, Jeffrey A. (November 13, 1998). "A Long-Snouted Predatory Dinosaur from Africa and the Evolution of Spinosaurids". Science. 282 (5392): 1298–1302. Bibcode:1998Sci...282.1298S. doi:10.1126/science.282.5392.1298. PMID 9812890.
  3. ↑ Sereno, Paul C.; Myhrvold, Nathan; Henderson, Donald M.; Fish, Frank E.; Vidal, Daniel; Baumgart, Stephanie L.; Keillor, Tyler M.; Formoso, Kiersten K.; Conroy, Lauren L. (November 30, 2022). "Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur". eLife. 11 e80092. doi:10.7554/eLife.80092. PMC 9711522. PMID 36448670.
  4. ↑ Sereno, Paul C.; Garcea, Elena A. A.; Jousse, Hélène; Stojanowski, Christopher M.; Saliège, Jean-François; Maga, Abdoulaye; Ide, Oumarou A.; Knudson, Kelly J.; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Jr, Thomas W. Stafford; Kaye, Thomas G.; Giraudi, Carlo; N'siala, Isabella Massamba; Cocca, Enzo; Moots, Hannah M. (August 14, 2008). "Lakeside Cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 Years of Holocene Population and Environmental Change". PLOS ONE. 3 (8) e2995. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.2995S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002995. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2515196. PMID 18701936.
  5. ↑ Spalding, D.A.E., 1993, Dinosaur Hunters: 150 years of extraordinary discoveries, Key Porter Books, Toronto, p. 284
  6. ↑ "Meet the Serenos". Chicago Tribune. April 24, 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Meet Paul Sereno, the Indiana Jones of paleontology. He'll be sending dispatches from his work in the Sahara Desert in the coming weeks". Chicago Tribune. September 18, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Portraits of Great American Scientists". lackawanna.ecampus.com. Retrieved June 10, 2026.
  9. ↑ Paul, Sereno. "Taxonomy, Cranial Morphology, and Relationships of Parrot-Beaked Dinosaurs (Ceratopsia: Psittacosaurus)". semanticscholar.
  10. ↑ "Newly Designated Wyoming Dinosaur 'Mummy Zone' Could Hold A Perfect T. Rex". Cowboy State Daily.
  11. ↑ "Paul Sereno, Ph.D. | Explorology Foundation". explorologyfoundation.com.
  12. ↑ Sereno, Paul C.; Vidal, Daniel; Myhrvold, Nathan P.; Johnson-Ransom, Evan; Ciudad Real, María; Baumgart, Stephanie L.; Sánchez Fontela, Noelia; Green, Todd L.; Saitta, Evan T.; Adamou, Boubé; Bop, Lauren L.; Keillor, Tyler M.; Fitzgerald, Erin C.; Dutheil, Didier B.; Laroche, Robert A. S.; Demers-Potvin, Alexandre V.; Simarro, Álvaro; Gascó-Lluna, Francesc; Lázaro, Ana; Gamonal, Arturo; Beightol, Charles V.; Reneleau, Vincent; Vautrin, Rachel; Bertozzo, Filippo; Granados, Alejandro; Kinney-Broderick, Grace; Mallon, Jordan C.; Lindoso, Rafael M.; Ramezani, Jahandar (February 19, 2026). "Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from the Sahara caps stepwise spinosaurid radiation". Science. doi:10.1126/science.adx5486.
  13. ↑ Chronis, Kasey (April 14, 2026). "New educational science space, Scitopia Chicago, planned for Washington Park". FOX 32 Chicago.
  14. ↑ Golden, Jamie Nesbitt (April 15, 2026). "'Indiana Jones Of Paleontology' To Open Science Center For Teens In Washington Park". Block Club Chicago.
  15. ↑ writer, Michael Liptrot, staff (June 25, 2024). "Paul Sereno's Fossil Lab bridges past and present in Washington Park". Hyde Park Herald.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Varricchio, D. J.; Sereno, P. C.; Xijin, Z.; Lin, T.; Wilson, J. A.; Lyon, G. H. (2008). "Mud-Trapped Herd Captures Evidence of Distinctive Dinosaur Sociality". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 53 (4): 567–578. Bibcode:2008AcPaP..53..567V. doi:10.4202/app.2008.0402. ISSN 0567-7920.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Sereno&oldid=1360481193"