Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
and
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
and a specialist in
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
.
Biography
Alfred Romer was born in
White Plains, New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer and his wife, Evalyn Sherwood. He was educated at White Plains High School.
He studied at
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
for his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
Honours degree in biology, then at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
for an M.Sc in Biology and a doctorate in
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
in 1921. Romer joined the department of geology and paleontology at the University of Chicago as an associate professor in 1923. He was an active researcher and teacher. His collecting program added important Paleozoic specimens to Chicago's Walker Museum of Paleontology. In 1934 he was appointed professor of
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. In 1946, he became director of the Harvard
Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). In 1954 Romer was awarded the
Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
He was awarded the Academy's
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. United States National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Gir ...
in 1956.
In 1961, Romer received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement.
Evolutionary research
Romer was a keen practical student of vertebrate evolution. Comparing facts from
paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
,
comparative anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...
, and
embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...
, he taught the basic structural and functional changes that happened during the
evolution of fishes to ancestral terrestrial
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s and from these to all other
tetrapod
Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...
s. He always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the relationship between form and function of animals and their environment.
Through his textbook
''Vertebrate Paleontology'', Romer laid the foundation for the traditional classification of vertebrates. He drew together the then widely scattered taxonomy of the different vertebrate groups and combined them into a single scheme, emphasizing orderliness and overview. Based on his research into early amphibians, he reorganised the
labyrinthodontia
"Labyrinthodontia" (Greek, 'maze-toothed') is an informal grouping of extinct predatory amphibians which were major components of ecosystems in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras (about 390 to 150 million years ago). Traditionally consid ...
ns.
Romer's classification has been followed by many subsequent authors, notably
Robert L. Carroll
Robert "Bob" Lynn Carroll (May 5, 1938 – April 8, 2020) was an American–Canadian vertebrate paleontologist who specialised in Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians and reptiles.
Biography
Carroll was an only child and grew up on a farm near ...
, and is still in use.
''Kronosaurus queenslandicus'' skeleton controversy
![Kronosaurus queenslandicus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Kronosaurus_queenslandicus.jpg)
Prior to Romer's tenure as MCZ director, the Museum sent an
expedition to Australia in 1931–1932 to gather specimens and study live animals. Then-graduate student
William E. Schevill
William Edward "Bill" Schevill (July 2, 1906 – July 25, 1994) was an American paleontologist famous for his part in dynamiting out the nodules of the most complete skeleton of the short-necked pliosaur ''Kronosaurus queenslandicus'' discovered ...
, the team's fossil enthusiast, remained in Australia afterward and, in the winter of 1932, was told by the rancher R.W.H. Thomas of rocks on his property near Hughenden with something "odd" poking out of them.
[Mather, Patricia, with Agnew, N.H. et al. ''The History of the Queensland Museum, 1862-1986'' Retrieved fro]
archive.org
/ref>[About the Exhibits by Elizabeth Hall and Max Hall (Museum of Comparative Zoology "Agazziz Museum" Harvard University. Third Edition, Copyright 1964, 1975, 1985, by the President and Fellows of Harvard College] The rocks were limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
nodules
Nodule may refer to:
*Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster
*Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor
*Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells
*Root nodule
Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...
that contained the most complete skeleton of a Kronosaurus
''Kronosaurus'' ( ; meaning "lizard of Kronos") is a potentially dubious genus of extinct short-necked pliosaur. With an estimated length of , it was among the largest pliosaurs, and is named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Kronos. It l ...
ever discovered.[Meyers, Troy. ''Kronosaurus Chronicles''. Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Issue 3, 2005. Retrieved fro]
australianageofdinosaurs.com
/ref> After dynamiting the nodules out of the ground (and into smaller pieces weighing approximately four tons), William Schevill shipped the fossils back to Harvard for examination and preparation. The skull—which matched the holotype jaw fragment of ''K. queenslandicus''—was prepared right away, but time and budget constraints put off restoration of the nearly complete skeleton for 20 years - most of the bones of which remained unexcavated within the limestone blocks. Work resumed when the material came to the attention of Godfrey Lowell Cabot
Godfrey Lowell Cabot (February 26, 1861 – November 2, 1962) was an American industrialist who founded the Cabot Corporation.
Early life
Godfrey Lowell Cabot was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Boston Latin School. His father was Sa ...
- Boston industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of the Cabot Corporation - "who was then in his nineties but had been interested in sea serpents since childhood."
He had previously questioned Dr. Romer about the existence and reports of sea serpents, and it occurred to Romer to tell Mr. Cabot about the skeleton in the museum closet. Godfrey Cabot asked how much a restoration would cost: "Romer, pulling a figure out of the musty air, replied, 'Oh, about $10,000.'" Romer may not have been serious, but the philanthropist sent a check for said sum shortly afterwards.[The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (Hardcover) – October 26, 2004] Two years - and more than $10,000 - later, after the careful labor of the museum preparators, the restored and mounted skeleton was displayed at Harvard in 1959. However, Dr. Romer and MCZ preparator Arnold Lewis confirmed that same year in the institution's journal ''Breviora'' that "erosion had destroyed a fair fraction of this once complete and articulated skeleton...so that approximately a third of the specimen as exhibited is plaster restoration." As well, the original bones remained layered in plaster; while this kept the fossils safe, it made it difficult for paleontologists to study them. This was a factor in subsequent controversy as to the true size of the ''Kronosaurus queenslandicus''.
Size issues
Body-length estimates, largely based on the 1959 Harvard reconstruction, had previously put the total length of ''Kronosaurus'' at .[Romer AS, Lewis AD. 1959. A mounted skeleton of the giant plesiosaur ''Kronosaurus''. ''Breviora'' 112: 1-15.] However, more recent studies that compared fossil specimens of ''Kronosaurus'' to other pliosaurs suggest that the Harvard reconstruction may have included too many vertebrae, so as to exaggerate the previous estimate, with the true length probably only .[Kear BP. 2003. Cretaceous marine reptiles of Australia: a review of taxonomy and distribution. ''Cretaceous Research'' 24: 277–303.]
Namesakes
Taxonomic patronyms
In honor of Alfred Romer, several taxonomic patronyms were given in animals:
* Romeriida
Eureptilia ("true reptiles") is one of the two major subgroups of the clade Sauropsida, the other one being Parareptilia. Eureptilia includes Diapsida (the clade containing all modern reptiles and birds), as well as a number of primitive Perm ...
is the name for a clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
that contains the diapsids and their closest relatives.
* '' Romeria'' is a genus of early captorhinids
Captorhinidae (also known as cotylosaurs) is an extinct family of tetrapods, traditionally considered primitive reptiles, known from the late Carboniferous to the Late Permian. They had a cosmopolitan distribution across Pangea.
Description
C ...
.
* '' Romeriscus'' is a genus from the early Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
) initially described as the oldest known amniote, but this is because limnoscelids were, at that time, considered amniotes
Amniotes are a clade of tetrapod vertebrates that comprises sauropsids (including all reptiles and birds, and extinct parareptiles and non-avian dinosaurs) and synapsids (including pelycosaurs and therapsids such as mammals). They are distingu ...
by some authors. A subsequent study showed that the fossil lacks diagnostic characters and can only be assigned to Tetrapoda.
* ''Dromomeron
''Dromomeron'' (meaning "running femur") is a genus of lagerpetid avemetatarsalian which lived around 220 to 211.9 ± 0.7 million years ago. The genus contains species known from Late Triassic-age rocks of the Southwestern United States and nort ...
romeri'' is a species of non-dinosaurian dinosauromorph
Dinosauromorpha is a clade of avemetatarsalian archosaurs (reptiles closer to birds than to crocodilians) that includes the Dinosauria (dinosaurs) and some of their close relatives. It was originally defined to include dinosauriforms and lag ...
named in July 2007. The genus name means 'running femur,' and the species name honors the paleontologist, a key figure in evolution research. The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough proving dinosaurs and other dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 to 20 million years."
Romer's gap
Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the tetrapods of the Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
and the later Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
period, a gap that has borne the name Romer's gap
Romer's gap is an example of an apparent gap in the tetrapod fossil record used in the study of evolutionary biology. Such gaps represent periods from which excavators have not yet found relevant fossils. Romer's gap is named after paleontologist ...
since 1995.[
]
Romerogram
A romerogram, also called spindle diagram, or bubble diagram, is a diagram popularised by Alfred Romer.
It represents taxonomic diversity (horizontal width) against geological time
The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...
(vertical axis) in order to reflect the variation of abundance of various taxa through time.
Books
*Romer, A.S. 1933. '' Vertebrate Paleontology.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1945; 3rd ed. 1966)
*Romer, A.S. 1933. ''Man and the Vertebrates.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1937; 3rd ed. 1941; 4th ed., retitled ''The Vertebrate Story'', 1949)
*Romer, A.S. 1949. ''The Vertebrate Body.'' W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia. (2nd ed. 1955; 3rd ed. 1962; 4th ed. 1970)
*Romer, A.S. 1949. ''The Vertebrate Story.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (4th ed. of ''Man and the Vertebrates'')
*Romer, A.S. 1956. ''Osteology of the Reptiles.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
*Romer, A.S. 1968. ''Notes and Comments on Vertebrate Paleontology.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
*Romer, A.S. & T.S. Parsons. 1977. ''The Vertebrate Body.'' 5th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia. (6th ed. 1985)
Sources
External links
Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Alfred S. Romer
NAS Biography of Alfred Romer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Alfred
1894 births
1973 deaths
Amherst College alumni
Columbia University alumni
American paleontologists
Harvard University faculty
University of Chicago faculty
Wollaston Medal winners
People from White Plains, New York
Penrose Medal winners
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Scientists from New York (state)