Elaine Anderson (January 8, 1936 – March 26, 2002) 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 ...

. She is best known for her work on

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 ...

Biography

Elaine Anderson was born in Salida,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, on January 8, 1936. She was the only child of John and Edith Anderson. She was raised in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. Anderson graduated from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

in 1960. She completed her Master's thesis in 1965. For her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

, she opted to go to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, becoming the first

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to do so. She studied under the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

paleontologist

Björn Kurtén Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén (19 November 1924 – 28 December 1988) was a Finnish vertebrate paleontologist, belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of his country. Early life and education Kurtén was born in Vaasa. Career He was a profe ...

, then one of the most distinguished authorities on studies on prehistoric mammals. Anderson returned to the United States after completing her

and worked as a scientific consultant at the Pleistocene Hall at the

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. She also worked briefly at the Idaho Museum of Natural History (then known as the Idaho State University Museum of Natural History) and the Maryland Academy of Sciences. She had to leave her latter job in order to return to

and care for her ailing mother. After her mother's death, she stayed in her childhood home, often being visited by other paleontologists,

mammalogist In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part ...

s and naturalists who were passing through. A frequent visitor of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (formerly known as the Denver Museum of Natural History), she formally became a member of the staff in 1984. She was elected a Research Associate in 1994. She was also an adjunct 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 the

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. She died on March 26, 2002, in Denver.

Contributions to science

Anderson specialized in

and

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

. Her particular interest in the members of

Carnivora Carnivora is a Clade, monophyletic order of Placentalia, placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all felidae, cat-like and canidae, dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are f ...

earned her the affectionate nickname of "The Carnivore Lady". She was an Associate Editor of the journal ''Mammalian Species'', published by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

from 1995 until her death. She was also involved in the field of

zooarcheology Zooarchaeology (sometimes called archaeozoology), also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bon ...

, long before the term was even coined. She was also active in the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

efforts on North American mammalian fauna. She was a member of the American Quaternary Association and was elected an Honorary Member of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and Activities SVP has about 2,300 members inter ...

in 2000. She is best known for her work ''

Pleistocene Mammals of North America The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

'', written in collaboration with

in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Elaine American paleontologists American women academics 1936 births 2002 deaths Women paleontologists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists University of Colorado alumni