During a visit to the website of Caitlín R. Kiernan, one of my favourite writers and a paleontologist, I learned that Dr. Dale A. Russell had passed away in December. As dinosaurs remain a life long interest I wanted to remember him here.
Wikipedia notes that
"Dale Alan Russell (27 December 1937-21 December 2019 was an American-Canadian geologist and palaeontologist. He was Research Professor at the Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS) at North Carolina State University and Senior Paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Dinosaurs he has described include Daspletosaurus, and he was amongst the first paleontologists to consider an extraterrestrial cause (supernova, comet, asteroid) for the extinction of the dinosaurs.[1]
In 1982, Russell created the "dinosauroid" thought experiment, which speculated an evolutionary path for Troodon if it had not gone extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 65 million years ago, and had instead evolved into an intelligent being. Russell commissioned a model of his dinosauroid by artist Ron Sequin, and the concept became popular."
"Dale Alan Russell (27 December 1937-21 December 2019 was an American-Canadian geologist and palaeontologist. He was Research Professor at the Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS) at North Carolina State University and Senior Paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Dinosaurs he has described include Daspletosaurus, and he was amongst the first paleontologists to consider an extraterrestrial cause (supernova, comet, asteroid) for the extinction of the dinosaurs.[1]
In 1982, Russell created the "dinosauroid" thought experiment, which speculated an evolutionary path for Troodon if it had not gone extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 65 million years ago, and had instead evolved into an intelligent being. Russell commissioned a model of his dinosauroid by artist Ron Sequin, and the concept became popular."
In fiction the British writer Neal Asher evokes Russell's dinosauroid reconstruction when describing the artificially created alien dracomen of his polarity SF series.
I was surprised I could not find an obituary for Russell on a news service like CBC, but Keirnan offers a lovely tribute here.
https://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1519682.html
A more recent take on the evolution of dinosaurs, assuming they had survived can be found here and Russell is mentioned.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170918-what-if-the-dinosaurs-hadnt-died-out
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
from Zen in the Art or Writing
by Ray Bradbury
by Ray Bradbury
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