Defining Dinosaurs
Summary Discussion Questions Bibliography Because this book is about dinosaurs, probably the most appropriate way to start is by defining them. This is not an easy task, even for dinosaur experts, so here is a preliminary attempt A dinosaur was a reptile- or bird-like animal with an upright posture that spent most The term reptile-like is applied because dinosaurs evolved from reptilian ancestors, yet they were clearly different from present-day reptiles such as crocodiles, alligators, and...
Early Scientific Studies of Dinosaurs The Europeans
Prominent scientists of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries connected fossils to formerly-living organisms. Among them were Leonardo da Vinci of Mona Lisa fame 1452-1519 , Niels Stensen of Denmark also known as Steno, Chapter 4 1638-87 , Robert Hooke 1635-1703 , and Robert Plot 1640-96 of England. Plot, a museum curator at Oxford, made the first known description and illustration of a dinosaur bone in 1677. The problem with his interpretation is that although he recognized the fossil was...
What Is a Hypothesis and How Is It Tested
A hypothesis is a conditional explanation of an observation, or series of observations, that typically proposes a cause for the observations Fig. 2.3 . A hypothesis results from asking the questions What caused the observed fact How did the observed fact occur and Why did the event that I observed happen, and not some other phenomenon Important characteristics of a hypothesis are that it must be 3 based on independently verifiable and observable factual information and In paleontology, the last...
82
Scientific Studies of Dinosaurs in the First Half of the Twentieth Century The turn of the last century was a seamless transition for most dinosaur paleontologists, but the deaths of Cope in 1897 and Marsh in 1899 symbolized the beginning of the new era. As changes in modes of transportation and communication began to make the world a smaller place, the study of dinosaurs became more global, expanding to areas of the world outside Europe and the Americas. Dinosaur paleontologists also became...
What is a Theory
A theory is a hypothesis, or set of related hypotheses, that withstands repeated testing to the point of widespread acceptance by the scientific community. Moreover, theories interrelate and overlap with one another they do not stand alone in isolation from one another. Because they are also typically based on interrelated hypotheses, theories are still subject to further testing and are potentially falsifiable, but the likelihood of their being proved absolutely wrong is unlikely. At worst,...
Bibliography 1
Andrews, R. C. 1932. The New Conquest of Central Asia A Narrative of the Explorations of the Central Asiatic Expeditions in Mongolia and China, 1921-30. New York American Museum of Natural History. Bird, R. T. 1985. Bones for Barnum Brown Adventures of a Dinosaur Hunter. Fort Worth, Texas Texas Christian University Press. Buckland, W. 1824. Notice on the Megalosaurus, or Great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield. Transactions of the Geological Society of London 1 Series 2 390-396. Buffetaut, E. 2000....
Ethical Decisions and Their Impact on the Science of Paleontology
Two paleontologists, who began as friends, soon became bitter enemies after they started to compete for the same fossils in the same field area. This incident was exacerbated when one of the paleontologists publicly exposed a major scientific mistake made by the other. The paleontologist in error was so deeply embarrassed that he attempted to buy, with his own personal funds, all of the journals that contained his mistake. The two rivals soon began employing spies to report on the dinosaur...
Acknowledgments
Nancy Whilton of Blackwell Publishing deserves credit for urging me to write a prospectus for the first edition of this textbook, which I was pleased to learn was accepted and lauded by the editorial staff at Blackwell. My energetic, cheerful, and enthusiastic assistants in editorial development and production at Blackwell included Elizabeth Frank, Rosie Hayden, and Sarah Edwards. They deserve not only raves, but raises. This book would be much less educationally valuable without the...