Paleontologist Chris McGowan recently retired from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to spend more time writing. In addition to being Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, he was Professor of Zoology at the University of Toronto.
Aside from his love of science and teaching, he is keenly interested in history--everything from Ancient Egypt to Victorian England. He used one of his books, on the early days of steam engines, to make a radio program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). You can hear this online.
Born and raised in England, he became interested in science when he was about nine years old. While not the top student, he had some fantastic teachers who encouraged him to succeed. He hoped to become a vet, but failed to get into Vet College, so he studied for a B.Sc. in zoology.
Chris McGowan became interested in fossils during his last year at university. After graduating, he became a high school teacher, studying for his doctorate in paleontology during evenings and weekends. The extinct animals he studied were ichthyosaurs, dolphin-like reptiles that lived in the sea at the time that dinosaurs roamed the land. Obtaining his Ph.D. three years later, he emigrated to Canada with his wife and two young daughters, to take a job at the ROM.
During his 33 years at the Museum, "one of the best jobs I can imagine," he collected dinosaurs in Mexico, ichthyosaurs in British Columbia, and plesiosaurs in Manitoba. Ichthyosaurs were his main research interest, but he also studied sharks, swordfish, flightless birds like the ostrich and the slightly smaller cassowary, and their extinct New Zealand relatives, the moas. Bird embryos were also of interest--their skeletons are more like those of dinosaurs than the skeletons of adult birds. His travels took him to many interesting places including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Ecuador, Galapagos, Egypt, Kenya, and Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina. next...
Aside from his love of science and teaching, he is keenly interested in history--everything from Ancient Egypt to Victorian England. He used one of his books, on the early days of steam engines, to make a radio program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). You can hear this online.
Born and raised in England, he became interested in science when he was about nine years old. While not the top student, he had some fantastic teachers who encouraged him to succeed. He hoped to become a vet, but failed to get into Vet College, so he studied for a B.Sc. in zoology.
Chris McGowan became interested in fossils during his last year at university. After graduating, he became a high school teacher, studying for his doctorate in paleontology during evenings and weekends. The extinct animals he studied were ichthyosaurs, dolphin-like reptiles that lived in the sea at the time that dinosaurs roamed the land. Obtaining his Ph.D. three years later, he emigrated to Canada with his wife and two young daughters, to take a job at the ROM.
During his 33 years at the Museum, "one of the best jobs I can imagine," he collected dinosaurs in Mexico, ichthyosaurs in British Columbia, and plesiosaurs in Manitoba. Ichthyosaurs were his main research interest, but he also studied sharks, swordfish, flightless birds like the ostrich and the slightly smaller cassowary, and their extinct New Zealand relatives, the moas. Bird embryos were also of interest--their skeletons are more like those of dinosaurs than the skeletons of adult birds. His travels took him to many interesting places including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Ecuador, Galapagos, Egypt, Kenya, and Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina. next...
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