Norman D. Newell

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Norman Dennis Newell (born January 27, 1909 in Chicago , † April 18, 2005 in Leonia , New Jersey ) was an American paleontologist and paleoecology pioneer who researched the causes and consequences of mass extinctions in the history of the earth. His students include Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould . After the publication of his book On Creation and Evolution: Myth or Reality? , a popular scientific examination of creationism , he drew attention to global warming in the 1980s and proposed that we are currently experiencing "one of the greatest mass extinctions" in the history of the earth.

Life

Newell studied geology at the University of Kansas , graduating with bachelor and master degrees . His Ph.D. He graduated from the University of Chicago . He began his professional career in 1929 with a position with the Kansas Geological Survey. He taught at the University of Wisconsin from 1937 to 1945 , then moved to a position as a curator in the invertebrate department at the American Museum of Natural History while teaching geology at Columbia University . He held these positions for four decades.

Initially, he dealt with the geological history of the Andes , the evolution of living and extinct mussels, and the ecology and formation of coral reefs . In 1937 and 1942 he published two monographs on fossil pelecypods in which he tried to relate the shape of the fossil to its biological function. In 1950 he turned to the study of mass extinctions in the history of the earth. First, he explored carbonate - sediments and the extinction of mollusks in Texas and compared his findings then with the knowledge of other marine invertebrates in the upper Paleozoic and lower Mesozoic . He came to the conclusion that the mass extinctions were a result of sea ​​level fluctuations and the retreat of shallow, warm shelf and marginal seas . Further work took him in 1952 to Raroia , an atoll in the South Pacific, and in the 1960s to the Bahamas to the coral reefs of the Bahama Banks . During this time he worked on the two volumes of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology , written by several authors, on mussels, which are still a standard work in paleontology today. The system used by Newell to classify mussels was widespread and popular among paleontologists. In 1977, upon completing his active career, he was appointed curator emeritus .

Newell also published scientific articles in retirement. In the 1980s, Newell also dealt with the communication of his findings to a wider audience and wrote On Creation and Evolution to show, among other things, the incompatibility of scientific knowledge with creationist theories. In other works, he compared the influence of humans on nature in the 20th century with the mass extinctions in the history of the earth and saw these being exceeded by the massive extinction of animal species caused by humans.

In 1972 he and colleagues introduced the extinct mollusc class of beaked shawls .

Honors and prizes

Newell was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society . In 1949 he was President of the Society for the Study of Evolution and 1960/61 of the Paleontological Society . He wrote numerous scientific papers and several books. His numerous awards for scientific achievement include awards from the National Academy of Sciences, Yale University, and the American Museum of Natural History . In 1990 he received the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America . The American Geological Institute raised him in 2004 to the rank of Legendary Geoscientist ("Legendary Geoscientist").

Fonts

  • 1937-1942: Late paleozoic pelecypods. 3 volumes, University of Kansas, Lawrence
  • 1949: Geology of the Lake Titicaca region, Peru and Bolivia. Geological Society of America, New York
  • 1949: Upper Paleozoic of Peru. new York
  • 1951: Shoal-water geology and environments, eastern Andros Island, Bahamas. new York
  • 1953: The Permian reef complex of the Guadalupe Mountains region, Texas and New Mexico; a study in paleoecology. WH Freeman, San Francisco (with other authors)
  • 1956: Geological reconnaissance of Raroia (Kon Tiki) Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago. American Museum of Natural History, pp. 315-372, New York
  • 1964: Approaches to paleoecology. Wiley, New York (with John Imbrie )
  • 1965: Mass Extinctions at the End of the Cretaceous Period. In: Science . Volume 149, No. 3687, pp. 922-924
  • 1979: Permian pelecypods from Tunisia. American Museum of Natural History, New York (with Donald W. Boyd)
  • 1982: On Creation and Evolution: Myth or Reality? Columbia University Press

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeremy Pearce: Norman Newell, 96, Scientist Who Studied Dying Species, Has Died. New York Times, April 23, 2005
  2. ^ RC Moore (Ed.): Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part N. Mollusca 6. Bivalvia. 2 volumes, 1969
  3. ↑ Bivalvia. ( Memento of December 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) M. Alan Kazlev, Palaeos.com
  4. ^ Norman D. Newell to Receive Legendary Geoscientist Award. American Geological Institute, October 15, 2004 (PDF, 132 kB, English)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Newell, Norman D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Newell, Norman Dennis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 2005
Place of death Leonia , New Jersey