John Harold Ostrom (February 18, 1928 – July 16, 2005) 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 ...
who revolutionized modern understanding of
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s in the 1960s.
As first proposed by
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The storie ...
in the 1860s, Ostrom showed that dinosaurs were more like big non-flying
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s than they were like
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
s (or "saurians"), and even proved that birds themselves are a type of
theropod saurischian dinosaur. Since dinosaurs themselves are considered
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
s, Ostrom's work made zoologists question whether birds should be considered an order of
Reptilia instead of their own class,
Aves
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
.
The first of Ostrom's broad-based reviews of the
osteology
Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...
and
phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
of the primitive bird ''
Archaeopteryx
''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...
'' appeared in 1976. His reaction to the eventual discovery of
feathered dinosaur
A feathered dinosaur is any species of dinosaur possessing feathers. While this includes all species of birds, there is a hypothesis that many, if not all non-avian dinosaur species also possessed feathers in some shape or form.
It has been su ...
s in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, after years of acrimonious debate, was bittersweet.
Early life and career
Ostrom was born in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
in 1928 and grew up in
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
. As a pre-medical undergraduate student at
Union College
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...
, he originally aimed to prepare for medical school in order to become a physician like his father. However, an elective course in geology and
George Gaylord Simpson's book ''The Meaning of Evolution'' inspired him to change his career plans, and he earned his bachelor's degree in
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
in 1951.
As an undergraduate and then as a research assistant during the 1950s, he learned about vertebrate paleontology from Simpson and
Edwin H. Colbert
Edwin Harris "Ned" Colbert (September 28, 1905 – November 15, 2001)O'Connor, Anahad ''The New York Times'', November 25, 2001. was a distinguished American vertebrate paleontologist and prolific researcher and author.
Born in Clarinda, Iowa, he ...
at the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
.
Ostrom enrolled 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 ...
as a graduate student under his advisor Ned Colbert, and earned his Ph.D. in 1960 with a thesis on North American
hadrosaurs that was based on the skull collection housed at the AMNH. In 1952 he married Nancy Grace Hartman (d. 2003) and they had two daughters, Karen and Alicia.
Ostrom taught for one year at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in 1955 before joining the faculty at
Beloit College
Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and has ...
the following year. In 1961 he accepted a professorship at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, where he remained throughout his career. As a new professor at Yale, Ostrom was named the assistant curator for
vertebrate paleontology at the
Peabody Museum of Natural History, and became Curator Emeritus in 1971.
Throughout his career, Ostrom led and organized fossil-hunting expeditions to Wyoming and Montana, edited the ''American Journal of Science'', published over a dozen books for both popular and lay audiences, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He retired from Yale in 1992, but continued his writing and research there until his health failed.
Ostrom died from complications of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
in July 2005 at the age of 77 in
Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...
.
Key discoveries
In the field of paleontology, Ostrom is responsible for the following key discoveries:
Hadrosaurs
Ostrom's work first achieved international attention with his studies of the unique hadrosaur nasal apparatus, which had not been convincingly explained by the early 1960s. By examining the
olfactory
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste.
In humans, it ...
apparatuses of modern
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
s and drawing comparisons via
comparative morphology, Ostrom concluded that hadrosaurs likely developed an acute sense of smell by a lengthening of the nasal passages into long chambers that wound around the skull and were protected by bony crests. He speculated in a subsequent paper that hadrosaurs had need for such an acute sense of smell as a defense against larger carnivorous dinosaurs, of which the hadrosaur body plan had little in the way of armor and speed.
This hypothesis led Ostrom to further conclude that ecology of hadrosaurs was more likely to be that of dry ground than swampy, aquatic environments, thought to be the case at the time. This idea became justified by a 1922 paper that Ostrom rediscovered in 1964, which described the stomach contents of a mummified specimen of the hadrosaur ''
Anatosaurus
''Edmontosaurus annectens'' (meaning "connected lizard from Edmonton") is a species of flat-headed and duck-billed ( hadrosaurid) dinosaur from the very end of the Cretaceous Period, in what is now North America. Remains of ''E. annectens'' have ...
'', which included conifer needles, twigs, fruit and seeds, plant matter that would be consumed in a terrestrial environment.
Ostrom's reading of fossilized ''
Hadrosaurus''
trackways also led him to the conclusion that these duckbilled dinosaurs traveled in herds.
Warm-blooded dinosaurs
Due in large part to his earlier research on hadrosaurs—and his conclusion that they were likely upright, terrestrial animals rather than sluggish, swamp-bound lizards—Ostrom was one of the first paleontologists to grasp the implications of the amount of energy it would take such large animals (and their still larger predators, such as ''
Tyrannosaurus rex'') to stand and move erect. At the first North American Paleontological Convention, held at the
Chicago Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
in 1969, Ostrom spoke out against the accepted wisdom that
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
climates were universally tropical and that such warm climates would be necessary to sustain large animals with lizard-like
metabolism
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...
s. Ostrom supported this view by noting the correlation of erect posture and locomotion with high metabolism and body temperature in modern mammals and birds, stating that this relationship cannot be accidental.
The observation that dinosaurs, thought to be uniformly cold-blooded at the time, could not be used as indicators of
paleoclimate
Paleoclimatology (British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to ...
was further validated in 1973 with the discovery of hadrosaur fossils above the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
Canadian
arctic circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
by the Canadian paleontologist
Dale Russell
Dale Alan Russell (27 December 1937 – 21 December 2019)
was an American-Canadian geologist and palaeontologist. Throughout his career Russell worked as the Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Research Professor a ...
. Ostrom's reappraisal of dinosaurs as
endothermic
In thermochemistry, an endothermic process () is any thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, H.P., Butler, L. J. (2015).''Principle of Modern Chemistry'', Brooks Cole. p. ...
was considered radical at the time, but its ability to resolve outstanding contradictions in
dinosaur physiology
The physiology of dinosaurs has historically been a controversial subject, particularly their thermoregulation. Recently, many new lines of evidence have been brought to bear on dinosaur physiology generally, including not only metabolic systems a ...
immediately drew many followers, and would be supported by many future discoveries.
''Deinonychus''
His 1964 discovery of additional ''
Deinonychus'' fossils is considered one of the most important fossil finds in history. ''Deinonychus'' was an active predator that clearly killed its prey by leaping and slashing or stabbing with its "terrible claw", the meaning of the animal's genus name. Evidence of a truly active lifestyle included long strings of
muscle
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...
running along the tail, making it a stiff counterbalance for jumping and running. The conclusion that at least some dinosaurs had a high
metabolism
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...
, and were thus in some cases
warm-blooded
Warm-blooded is an informal term referring to animal species which can maintain a body temperature higher than their environment. In particular, homeothermic species maintain a stable body temperature by regulating metabolic processes. The onl ...
, was popularized by his student
Robert T. Bakker
Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor J ...
. This helped to change the impression of dinosaurs as the sluggish, slow,
cold-blooded lizards which had prevailed since the turn of the century.
The implications of ''Deinonychus'' changed depictions of dinosaurs both by professional illustrators and as perceived by the public eye. The find is also credited with triggering the "
dinosaur renaissance", a term coined in a 1975 issue of ''
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' by Bakker to describe the renewed debates causing an influx of interest in paleontology. The "renaissance" has lasted from the 1970s to the present and has doubled recorded dinosaur diversity.
''Archaeopteryx'' and the origin of flight
Ostrom's interest in the dinosaur-bird connection started with his study of what is now known as the
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
''Archaeopteryx''. Discovered in 1855, it was actually the first specimen recovered but, incorrectly labeled as ''
Pterodactylus crassipes'', it languished in the
Teylers Museum
Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...
in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, until Ostrom's 1970 paper (and 1972 description) correctly identified it as one of only eight "first birds" (counting the solitary feather).
Cultural influence
John Ostrom's work on the functional morphologyof dinosaurs found that the claws and tendon scars in the tail would indicate a running position. And so the whole posture of bipedal dinosaurs changed to one of agile, fast-running, fearsome predators. This inspired a new generation of dinosaur movies and also museums worldwide changed their dinosaur bone displays.
In 1966 John H. Ostrom was instrumental in the establishment of
Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Connecticut ("because the governor was besieged by letters from schoolchildren swayed into dino-mania by Ostrom"
).
Dinosaur dig sites
John Ostrom set up a full-tim
dig site at the Big Horn Basin, Wyomingin the 1960s, as well he spent a lot of time digging at Rocky Hill.
Scientific classification
* In 1970, John Ostrom gave ''
Microvenator celer
''Microvenator'' (meaning "small hunter") is a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation in what is now south central Montana. ''Microvenator'' was an oviraptorosaurian theropod. The holotype fossil is an incomplete skeleton, ...
'' its formal name (meaning "fast small hunter").
* Also in 1970, he named ''
Tenontosaurus tilletti'' (meaning "tendon lizard").
* In 1993,
James Kirkland, Robert Gaston, and Donald Burge named a fossil ''
Utahraptor ostrommaysorum
''Utahraptor'' (meaning "Utah's thief") is a genus of large dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in North America during the Early Cretaceous Geological period, period. It was a heavy-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore. It contains a single ...
'' for John Ostrom and Chris Mays. The largest discovered example of this species is 23 feet long and had an estimated live weight over 1000 pounds.
* In 1998,
Catherine Forster
Catherine Ann Forster is an American paleontologist, taxonomist and expert in ornithopod evolution and ''Triceratops
''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivore, herbivorous Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsidae, ceratopsid dinosaur ...
named a fossil ''
Rahonavis ostromi
''Rahonavis'' is a genus of bird-like theropods from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian, about 70 mya) of what is now northwestern Madagascar. It is known from a partial skeleton ( UA 8656) found by Catherine Forster and colleagues in Maevarano ...
'' (meaning
Ostrom's menace from the clouds) in honour of John Ostrom. The fossil is that of a primitive winged creature with a two-foot wingspan, feathers and a sickle-shaped claw on its second toe designed for slashing prey, similar to ''Deinonychus'' and ''Archaeopteryx''.
* In 2017, ''
Ostromia
''Ostromia'' (''Thick feet of John Ostrom'') is a genus of anchiornithid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Painten Formation of Germany. The genus contains a single species, ''O. crassipes'', named by Christian Foth and Oliver Rauhut in 2 ...
'' (a new genus named for the Haarlem specimen, formerly of ''
Archaeopteryx
''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...
'') was named in his honor.
References
Notes
Sources
* . May 1975. John H. Ostrom. ''Discovery'', volume 11, number 1, pages 15 to 23.
* Obituary Los Angeles Times July 21, 2005
External links
Dinosaurs in Your Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrom, John
1928 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Deaths from dementia in Connecticut
American paleontologists
Scientists from New York City
Columbia University alumni
Union College (New York) alumni
Beloit College faculty
Brooklyn College faculty