FRENCH PALEONTOLOGIST TO SPEAK AT SAM NOBLE OKLAHOMA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Philippe Taquet, distinguished paleontologist and director emeritus of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, will give a free public lecture on the life of 19th century scientist Georges Cuvier at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 26 at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman. The lecture is co-sponsored by the SNOMNH and University of Oklahoma departments of Zoology, History of Science and Geology and Geophysics.

Philippe Taquet is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and served as director of the National Museum of Natural History from 1985 to 1990; he is also a former chairman of the department of paleontology. . His research has concentrated on large Mesozoic vertebrates, with a particular focus on Africa. He currently serves as president of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences and is at work on the second volume of a biography of Georges Cuvier. The first volume, Georges Cuvier: Naissance d’un Génie, (“Georges Cuvier: Birth of a Genius”) was published in 2006 by Odile Jacob, Paris.

Georges Cuvier (1769 - 1832), French zoologist and statesman, was one of the leading figures in science during his time. He is widely recognized as the founder of comparative anatomy and as one of the outstanding shapers of vertebrate paleontology and of the uses of fossils in stratigraphy.

Additional information about this and other programs at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is available by calling (405) 325-4712 or on the Web at www.snomnh.ou.edu. The museum is located on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus.

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