David Bruce Norman (born 20 June 1952 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

) is a British

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 ...

, currently the main curator of

vertebrate paleontology Vertebrate paleontology is the subfield of paleontology that seeks to discover, through the study of fossilized remains, the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord. It also tries to connect, by us ...

at the

Sedgwick Museum The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the university's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge, England. The Sedgw ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. From 1991 to 2011, Norman has also been the Sedgwick Museum's director.

Life and career

Norman is a fellow at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, where he teaches Earth Sciences in the Natural Sciences

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mat ...

. A member of the Palaeontological Association, he has studied ''

Iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning ' iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, ...

'' and also has participated in the studies and scientific surveys included in the dinosaur work '' The Dinosauria'' (2nd edition, 2004). The species epithet of ''

Equijubus normani ''Equijubus'' (; ''Mǎzōng'' meaning "horse mane" after the area Mǎzōng Mountain 马鬃山 in which it was found), is a genus of herbivorous hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Albian stage) of northwestern China. Discovery a ...

'' was named in honour of him. In 2017, Dr Norman was one of three British palaeontologists who proposed a radical new hypothesis for early dinosaur evolution and interrelationships in a paper in the journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

''. In this work, Dr Matthew Grant Baron, Dr David Bruce Norman and Prof. Paul Michael Barrett (2017) suggested that

Ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek ...

and

Theropoda Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ...

were closely related as part of a new clade that they named Ornithoscelida. He also possesses a keen interest in rugby, and he regularly referees for Cambridge UniversityProfessor David Norman FLS (MA Cantab)
Christ's College - University of Cambridge and District Rugby Referees Society (CUDRRS), earning himself the nickname 'Refosaurus Rex'.

Works

Children books

* ''The Poster Book of Dinosaurs'', Hodder Children's Books, 1988 (illustrations by

John Sibbick John Sibbick is a British freelance illustrator and paleoartist best known for his fantasy art and reconstructions of prehistoric life in several media. Sibbick studied Graphics and Illustration at Guildford School of Art (now University for ...

) * ''The Humongous Book of Dinosaurs'', Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (April 1997) ; * ''The Big Book of Dinosaurs'', Publisher: Welcome Books (April 2001) ; * ''Dinosaurs Sticker Book'', Usborne Sticker Books, 2010,

Popular science books

* ''Spotter's Guide to Dinosaurs & Other Prehistoric Animals'', Usborne Publishing, London, 1980 (illustrations by Bob Hersey) * ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'', Simon & Schuster, New York, 1985 (illustrations by

) * ''The Age of Dinosaurs'', Hodder Wayland, November 1985 * ''Dinosaurs!'', E.D.C. Publishing, December 1985 (illustrations by Ruth Thomson and Bob Hersey) * ''Dinosaur'', co-authored with

Angela Milner Angela Cheryl Milner (3 October 1947 – 13 August 2021) was a British paleontologist who, in 1986 alongside Alan Charig, described the dinosaur ''Baryonyx''. Early life Milner was born Angela Girven in Gosforth, daughter of Cyril and Luc ...

, Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books, London, 1989 * ''Dinosaur!'', Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1991, (the official companion to A&E's 1991 four-part television series hosted by

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

) * ''Prehistoric Life: the rise of the vertebrates'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, December 1994 (illustrations by John Sibbick) * ''The Smithsonian Handbook to Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals'', co-authored with Hazel Richardson,

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media c ...

, 2003,

Scientific books and surveys

* ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs'', Salamander Books, 1985 (illustrations by

) * * ''Basal Ornithischia'' and ''Basal Thyreophora'' (co-authored with

Lawrence Witmer Lawrence M. Witmer (born October 10, 1959, at Rochester, New York) is an American paleontologist and paleobiologist. He is a Professor of Anatomy and a Chang Ying-Chien Professor of Paleontology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Her ...

and

David Weishampel Professor David Bruce Weishampel (born November 16, 1952) is an American palaeontologist in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Weishampel received his Ph.D. in Geology from the Universi ...

), ''Basal Ornithopoda'' (co-authored with

Hans-Dieter Sues Hans-Dieter Sues (born January 13, 1956) is a German-born American paleontologist who is Senior Scientist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He receiv ...

and Rodolfo Coria), ''Basal Iguanodontia'' (co-authored with

David B. Weishampel Professor David Bruce Weishampel (born November 16, 1952) is an American palaeontologist in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Weishampel received his Ph.D. in Geology from the Unive ...

, Halszka Osmólska and Peter Dodson) ; in '' The Dinosauria'', 2nd edition, 2004 (first edition was published in 1990), edited by David B. Weishampel, Halszka Osmólska and Peter Dodson, University of California Press, * ''Dinosaurs: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, December 2005, *

TV documentaries

Crew member, as a scientific advisor

* ''

Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. Envi ...

'' (six-part TV series documentary, BBC, 1999, scientific advisor for the episode "Giant of the Skies", credited as Dr. David Norman) * ''

Prehistoric Planet ''Prehistoric Planet'' is a British-American nature documentary streaming television series about dinosaurs that premiered on Apple TV+ beginning May 23, 2022. It is produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit with Jon Favreau as showrunn ...

'' (a re-version of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' and ''

Walking with Beasts ''Walking with Beasts'', marketed as ''Walking with Prehistoric Beasts'' in North America, is a 2001 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, the Discovery Chann ...

'', by

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, 2002, scientific advisor for the episode "Sky King", credited as Dr. David Norman)

On screen, as himself

* ''Dinosaur!'' (four-part TV series documentary, hosted by

, A&E, 1991, Norman appears in all four episodes: "The Tale of a Tooth", "The Tale of a Bone", "The Tale of an Egg" and "The Tale of a Feather") * '' The Dinosaurs!'' (television documentary

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

produced by PBS in 1992) * ''Dinosaurs Myths & Reality'' (TV movie documentary, 1995, Produced by Castle Communications and Cromwell Productions Ltd.) * ''The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs'' (TV movie documentary about the series ''

'', 1999, "making of" produced and directed by Jasper James for the BBC)

Acknowledgements

* ''

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives ''Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives'' is a 1989 four-part BBC documentary series concerning the discovery of fossils. It is written and presented by David Attenborough, produced by Mike Salisbury, and was originally broadcast in April 1989. It was mad ...

'' (TV series documentary, BBC, 1989, Norman is thanked in the episode titled "Dinosaur") * ''

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life ''Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life'' is a 2009 television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the B ...

'' (TV movie documentary, BBC, 2009, Norman is acknowledged as Dr. David Norman)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, David B. English palaeontologists Living people Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge 1952 births