Kenneth A. Kermack (1919 – 2000) was a British

palaeontologist 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 ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

most notable for his work on early mammals with his wife, Doris Mary Kermack. Among Kermack's other significant contributions was the observation that ''

Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek δι� ...

'' could not have had an aquatic lifestyle because sheer water pressure alone on its chest would have prevented it breathing whilst submerged. He first described the early mammal ''Aegialodon dawsoni'' from a molar tooth and the docodont ''Simpsonodon oxfordensis''. He was also interested in astronomy, elected a member of the British Astronomical Association 1966 February 23, a member until his death.

Selected publications

* Kermack, D. M., Kermack, K. A., and Mussett, F. 1968. The Welsh pantothere ''Kuehneotherium praecursoris''. ''Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology'' 47:407–423. * Kermack, K. A., Mussett, F., and Rigney, H. W. 1973. The lower jaw of ''Morganucodon''. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 53:87–175. * Kermack, K. A., Mussett, F., and Rigney, H. W. 1981. The skull of ''Morganucodon''. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 71:1–158. * Kermack, K. 1989. Hearing in early mammals. ''Nature'' 341:568–569.

References

British palaeontologists 1919 births 2000 deaths {{paleontologist-stub