Luis María Chiappe (born 18 June 1962) is an Argentine paleontologist born in Buenos Aires who is best known for his discovery of the first

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...

nesting sites in the

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

in 1997 and for his work on the origin and early evolution of Mesozoic birds. He has been the Senior Vice President of Research and Collections at the

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are par ...

since 2012 and was the founding director of the museum's Dinosaur Institute. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

, New York after immigrating from Argentina. Chiappe curated the award-winning Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County,and led the decade-long work on the green dinosaur Gnatalie which culminated with a new mount in the NHM Commons. Chiappe is a fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

, a laureate of the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, an adjunct professor at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, and a member of the Real Academia de Ciencias de España.

Academic contributions

Chiappe has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with nearly 17,000 citations. He has numerous publications in high-profile scientific journals, including

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics The ''Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics'' is an annual scientific journal published by Annual Reviews. The journal was established in 1970 as the ''Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics'' and changed its name beginning in 200 ...

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research artic ...

Gondwana Research ''Gondwana Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with an "all earth science" scope and an emphasis on the origin and evolution of continents. It is part of the Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializi ...

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of S ...

Nature Communications ''Nature Communications'' is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medic ...

, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, and

Scientific Reports ''Scientific Reports'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely ...

. He is best known for his extensive work on the origin and early evolution of birds, although he is also well-known for work on sauropod nesting sites and embryos from Patagonia, on which he has authored several books and articles, and on pterosaur embryos. Below is a list of taxa that Chiappe has contributed to naming:

Books

*Chiappe, L.M.; Qingjin, M. 2016. ''Birds of Stone.'' (

Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, 2016), . *Chiappe, L.M. 2007. ''Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds.'' (

Wiley-Liss John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclope ...

,2007), . *Dingus, L.; Chiappe, L.M. ''The Tiniest Giants: Discovering Dinosaur Eggs'' ( Doubleday Books, 1999), . *Chiappe, L.M.; Dingus, L. ''Walking on Eggs: The Astonishing Discovery of Thousands of Dinosaur Eggs in the Badlands of Patagonia'' ( Scribner, 2001), . *Chiappe, L.M.; Dingus, L. ''The Lost Dinosaurs: The Astonishing Discovery of the World's Largest Prehistoric Nesting Ground'' (

Abacus An abacus ( abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a hand-operated calculating tool which was used from ancient times in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, until the adoption of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. A ...

, 2002), *Chiappe, L.M.; Witmer L. ''Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs'' (

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 2002), .

In popular culture

Chiappe has been featured in many TV documentaries, including the 2016 BBC documentary, '' Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur'', showing Sir David Attenborough the dinosaur egg nesting site at Auca Mahuevo, and eggs from that site in the Museo Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Neuquén Province, Argentina.

References

External links

NHM BiographyResearch Gate Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiappe, Luis M. 1962 births Living people People from Buenos Aires Argentine paleontologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Southern California faculty