George O. Poinar

George O. Poinar, Jr. (* 1936 ) is an American entomologist and author. He became known for his idea of extracting DNA from insects trapped in amber . This idea was taken up by Michael Crichton for his book Jurassic Park , which was filmed under the same title .

Life

Poinar received his BS and MS degrees from Cornell University , where he also received his Ph.D. in 1962. in biology . He did research in entomology at the University of California, Berkeley . Here and in the course of his travels he researched nematodes and the like. a. parasitic nematodes on insects and via insects trapped in amber.

In 1992 Poinar believed, together with his wife, son Hendrik and Dr. Raul Cano of California Polytechnic State University to extract DNA from an insect (a weevil ) in amber from Lebanon, which is around 125 million years old . However, recent studies on fossil DNA have raised considerable doubts as to the correctness of these results.

In 1995 Poinar went to Oregon , where he founded the Amber Institute together with his wife Roberta and a scientist friend from the University of Berkeley. In Oregon he was appointed to Oregon State University , Department of Entomology.

Publications (selection)

• Life in Amber (1992), a summary of the insects and other organic inclusions preserved in amber.
• Amplification and sequencing of DNA from a 120-135-million-year-old weevil (1993)
• The Quest for Life in Amber (1994)
• The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World (1999), co-authored by Roberta Poinar
• Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin , (2001)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hebsgaard, Martin B .; Phillips, Matthew J .; Willerslev, Eske (2005), "Geologically ancient DNA: fact or artefact?", Trends in Microbiology 13 (5): 212-220, doi : 10.1016 / j.tim.2005.03.010 , PMID 15866038

Web links

• Article in National Geographic about Dr. Poinar's discovery of a 100 million year old bee
• Article in MSNBC about Dr. Poinar's discovery of a 100 million year old bee