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Centre hosts "modern-day" Indiana Jones
DANVILLE, KY—Released: Jan. 25, 2000 Jack Horner, a technical advisor to Jurassic Park and the first person to discover dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, will speak at Centre College Thursday, Feb. 3. His presentation will begin at 8 p.m. in Young Hall Room 101. Immediately prior to Horner's lecture, beginning at 7 p.m., the college's natural history museum will be open, featuring dinosaur fossils as well as minerals and gems. The museum and the lecture are open to the public at no cost. Billed as a "modern-day Indiana Jones," Horner is a Montana native who has become a legend in terms of his instincts for locating dinosaur fossils. After studying geology and zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Montana, he left without a college degree and joined the research staff at Princeton University's Museum of Natural History in 1975. He returned to Montana in 1982 to work with the Museum of the Rockies and today remains curator of paleontology at that facility. Horner has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Montana, and in 1986 he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. During late 1999, the National Association of Biology Teachers honored him with a distinguished service award. Using his knowledge of the Montana landscape and his passion for paleontology, Horner has made numerous discoveries. Among his finds: the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs and the first dinosaur embryo. Horner's research spans a wide range of topics about dinosaurs, including their behavior, physiology, ecology and evolution. He has written 40 professional papers and 25 popular articles, co-authored five books and co-edited one technical book. His work has been featured in numerous magazines and television specials. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg chose him to serve as technical advisor for Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World. Horner's visit to Central Kentucky has been made possible as a joint collaboration of the college, the Kentucky Paleontology Society and Danville resident Jack Hankla, who has an avid interest in fossils. - end - Communications Office Public information coordinator: Patsi Barnes Trollinger |