Alfred Romer

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Baltic-German/Polish painter, sculptor and printmaker, see
Alfred Isidore Romer
.
Alfred Romer
Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1969)
  • Linnean Medal (1972)
  • Wollaston Medal (1973)
    • Scientific career
    FieldsPaleontology
    InstitutionsMuseum of Comparative Zoology
    ThesisThe Locomotor Apparatus of Certain Primitive and Mammal-like Reptiles (1922)
    Doctoral advisorWilliam King Gregory

    Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American

    paleontologist and biologist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution
    .

    Biography

    Alfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer and his wife, Evalyn Sherwood. He was educated at White Plains High School.[2]

    He studied at

    National Academy of Sciences, of which he was a member.[5][3] He was awarded the academy's Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal in 1956.[6] In 1961, Romer received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[7]

    Evolutionary research

    Romer was a keen practical student of vertebrate evolution. Comparing facts from paleontology, comparative anatomy, and embryology, he taught the basic structural and functional changes that happened during the evolution of fishes to ancestral terrestrial vertebrates and from these to all other tetrapods. He always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the relationship between form and function of animals and their environment.

    Through his textbook

    Romer's classification has been followed by many subsequent authors, notably Robert L. Carroll
    , and is still in use.

    Namesakes

    Taxonomic patronyms

    In honor of Alfred Romer, several

    taxonomic patronyms
    were given in animals:

    Romer's gap

    Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the

    tetrapods of the Devonian and the later Carboniferous period, a gap that has borne the name Romer's gap since 1995.[13]

    Romerogram

    A romerogram of the vertebrates at class level, with the width of spindles indicating number of families.

    A romerogram, also called spindle diagram, or bubble diagram, is a diagram popularised by Alfred Romer.[14] It represents taxonomic diversity (horizontal width) against geological time (vertical axis) in order to reflect the variation of abundance of various taxa through time.[15]

    Books

    • Romer, A.S. 1933.
      Vertebrate Paleontology
      .       University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1945; 3rd ed. 1966)
    • Romer, A.S. 1933. Man and the Vertebrates. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1937; 3rd ed. 1941; 4th ed., retitled The Vertebrate Story, 1949)
    • Romer, A.S. 1949. The Vertebrate Body. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia. (2nd ed. 1955; 3rd ed. 1962; 4th ed. 1970)
    • Romer, A.S. 1949. The Vertebrate Story. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (4th ed. of Man and the Vertebrates)
    • Romer, A.S. 1956. Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
    • Romer, A.S. 1968. Notes and Comments on Vertebrate Paleontology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
    • Romer, A.S. & T.S. Parsons. 1977. The Vertebrate Body. 5th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia. (6th ed. 1985)

    Sources

    1. S2CID 73207256
      .
    2. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original
      (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
    3. ^ a b "Alfred Sherwood Romer". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
    4. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
    5. ^ "Mary Clark Thompson Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
    6. ^ "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
    7. American Academy of Achievement
      .
    8. ^ "Romer, Alfred Sherwood." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830905302.html
    9. S2CID 10481925
      .
    10. doi:10.1080/02724634.1992.10011478
      .
    11. ^ Andrew Herrmann (2007-07-20). "Grad student finds 'pre-dinosaur'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2008-10-13.
    12. S2CID 6050601
      .
    13. PMID 17065318
      .
    14. ^ "Evolutionary systematics: Spindle Diagrams". Palaeos.com. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
    15. ^ "Trees, Bubbles, and Hooves". A Three-Pound Monkey Brain — Biology, programming, linguistics, phylogeny, systematics …. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2019-11-13.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alfred_Romer&oldid=1219088273"