Charles Mortram Sternberg (18 September 1885 – 8 September 1981) was an American-Canadian

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

collector and

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, son of

Charles Hazelius Sternberg Charles Hazelius Sternberg (June 15, 1850 – July 20, 1943) was an American fossil collector and paleontology, paleontologist. He was active in both fields from 1876 to 1928, and collected fossils for Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh, ...

. Late in his career, he collected and described '' Pachyrhinosaurus'', ''

Brachylophosaurus ''Brachylophosaurus'' ( or ) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of western North America. It was first named in 1953 by Charles Mortram Sternberg for a skull and skeleton he discovered in 1936 in th ...

'', ''

Parksosaurus ''Parksosaurus'' (meaning "William Parks (paleontologist), William Parks's lizard") is a genus of neornithischian dinosaur from the Maastrichtian, early Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada. It is based ...

'' and '' Edmontonia''. A contemporary author wrote, "No published study of Canadian dinosaurs is possible today without citing one or another of Sternberg's papers."

Early life

Charles Mortram Sternberg was born in Lawrence,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, from a family of famous American fossil collectors. Sternberg's highest level of education was a Kansas high school degree.

Career

Sternberg moved with his father and two brothers,

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

and George, to

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada in 1912. The four began working in Alberta collecting dinosaurs on behalf of the Geological Survey of Canada. This work was in competition with the American Museum of Natural History (New York) who were collecting many fossil skeletons and shipping them out of Canada. Following Lawrence Lambe's death in 1919, Sternberg assumed the role of director of paleontology enterprise of the Geological Survey of Canada. Sternberg's first paper appeared in 1921, supplementing Lambe's study of the Ankylosaur '' Panoplosaurus''. Sternberg later took over the scientific description of fossil vertebrates for the Geological Survey. He published 47 papers on fossil vertebrates, mostly dinosaurs, many based on his own remarkable discoveries. In 1936, Sternberg and his son Ray Martin installed permanent metal quarry markers in 112 dinosaur quarries within Dinosaur Provincial Park. The critical site locality data for these specimens was thereby saved, thus ensuring that information was useful for the dinosaur biostratigraphic work that is so important today. In 1948, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Biologist in the

National Museum of Canada The national museums of Canada () are the nine museums in Canada designated under the federal ''Museums Act'' and operated by the Government of Canada. The national museums are responsible for "preserving and promoting the heritage of Canada and al ...

, which is the equivalent of

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. In 1949, he was elected a Fellow of

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. Although he retired in 1950, his publications continued until 1970. "nominally retired" Sternberg later helped to establish

Dinosaur Provincial Park Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated 220 kilometres (137 mi) east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or northeast of Brooks. The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its striking badland topo ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He was granted honorary degrees by the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

and

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

in Ottawa. He was a Freemason and member of Civil Service Lodge No. 148 in Ottawa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sternberg, Charles Mortram American paleontologists 1885 births 1981 deaths Amateur paleontologists Geological Survey of Canada personnel