Event date: Wednesday, January 26,
2011
Event place:
Redlands, CA
Guest lecture, “Gogo
Fishes”
On Wednesday, January 26, Australian
paleontologist John A. Long will give a guest lecture on fossil fish in
“Swimming in Stone,” at 7:30pm at the San Bernardino County Museum. This program is free of charge and open to
public.
Long will talk about 380-million-year-old fishes from the famous Gogo
site in Western
Australia
that are perfectly preserved in 3-D form. From giant carnivorous placoderms
(ancient armored fishes) to the dawn of the modern fish fauna, Gogo has
contributed many critical specimens used in elucidating our knowledge of how the
first back-boned animals evolved and radiated.
John A. Long is currently the Vice President of Research and Collections
at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He is also an author of
popular science books. His main area of research is on the fossil fish of the
Late Devonian Gogo Formation from northern Western
Australia.
It has yielded many important insights into fish evolution, such as Gogonasus and Materpiscis, the latter specimen being
crucial to our understanding of the origins of vertebrate reproduction.
His love of fossil collecting began at age 7 and he graduated with Ph.D
from Monash University in 1984, specializing in Palaeozoic fish
evolution. He held postdoctoral positions at the Australian National University
(1984–85, Rothmans Fellow), The University of Western Australia (1986–87, Queen
Elizabeth II Award) and The University of Tasmania (1988–89, ARC Fellow) before
taking up a position as Curator in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Western
Australian Museum (1989–2004), and then as Head of Sciences at Museum Victoria
(2004–2009).
The San Bernardino County Museum sponsors its guest lecture series to share
current research by prominent researchers and scholars with the public. The
San
Bernardino
County Museum is at the California
Street
exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. Parking is free. For more information, visit www.sbcountymuseum.org.
The museum is accessible to persons with
disabilities. If assistive listening devices or other auxiliary aids are needed
in order to participate in museum exhibits or programs, requests should be made
through Museum Visitor Services at least three business days prior to your
visit. Visitor Services’ telephone number is 909-307-2669 ext. 229 or (TDD)
909-792-1462.
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