Jenny Clack

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Jenny Clack

FLS
Born
Jennifer Alice Agnew

(1947-11-03)3 November 1947
Died26 March 2020(2020-03-26) (aged 72)
NationalityEnglish
Alma materNewcastle University (BSc, PhD)
University of Leicester
University of Cambridge (MA)
Known forGaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods (2002)
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
Palaeontology
Evolutionary biology
Institutions

Jennifer Alice Clack,

lobe-finned fishes
. She is best known for her book Gaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods, published in 2002 (second edition, 2012) and written with the layperson in mind.

Clack was curator at the

Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Cambridge, where she devoted her career to studying the early development of tetrapods, the "four-legged" animals said to have evolved from Devonian lobe-finned fishes and colonised the freshwater swamps of the Carboniferous
period.

Early life and education

Clack was born on 3 November 1947, the only child of Ernest and Alice Agnew.

MA from the University of Cambridge. On 9 December 2000, she was awarded a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree by the University of Cambridge.[3]

Academic career

In 1981, Clack joined the

personal chair by Cambridge, taking the title Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology.[1][9]

Clack is best known for her extensive body of work on early tetrapods, much of which redefined how paleontologists conceived of the evolution of limbs and other features associated with tetrapods' transition from other lobe-finned fishes. She began her career working primarily on the ear of early tetrapods

Borders Region of Scotland which date from the Tournaisian stage of the earliest Carboniferous period; this project has produced numerous publications furthering the understanding of early tetrapod evolution.[15][16][17][18]

Over the course of her lengthy career, Clack published in some of the most notable scientific journals, including Nature,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Science,[34][35] and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences[36][37] and is one of the most published vertebrate paleontologists in Nature, arguably the leading scientific journal in the world, with over 15 papers in that journal alone. In addition to her Gaining Ground book, Clack also co-authored a volume of the Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie series on early tetrapods with Andrew Milner in 2015[38] and co-edited a volume on the evolution of hearing in 2016.[39]

Clack is probably best known for discovering that the earliest

pentadactyly was not an ancestral trait for tetrapods.[40]

Clack supervised many graduate students who went on to pursue successful careers in paleontology and evolutionary biology, including Per Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Paul Upchurch (University College London), Michael Lee (Flinders University), and Matthew Friedman (University of Michigan).[5] In April 2012 she was featured in an episode[41] of the BBC television series Beautiful Minds, a set of documentaries about scientists who have made important discoveries. This may be viewed on YouTube.[42] Clack was honored by her peers with a festschrift published in 2019.[5]

Taxa named by Jennifer Clack and colleagues
Year Taxon Authors
2020 Rossichthys clackae gen. et sp. nov Johanson et al.[43]
2020 Brittagnathus minutus gen. et sp. nov. Ahlberg & Clack[44]
2019
Parmastega aelidae
gen. et sp. nov.
Beznosov, Clack, Lukševičs, Ruta & Ahlberg[33]
2019 Limanichthys fraseri gen. et sp. nov. Challands et al.[45]
2018 Celsiodon ahlbergi gen. et sp. nov. Clack, Challands, Smithon & Smithson[46]
2018 Mesanerpeton woodi gen. et sp. nov. Smithson & Clack[47]
2018 Whitropus longicalcus gen. et sp. nov. Richards et al.[48]
2018 Deltodus tubineus sp. nov. Richards et al.[48]
2017 Spathicephalus marsdeni sp. nov. Smithson et al.[49]
2016 Perittodus apsconditus gen. et sp. nov. Clack & Smithson[50]
2016 Koilops herma gen. et sp. nov. Clack & Smithson[50]
2016 Ossirarus kierani gen. et sp. nov. Clack & Smithson[50]
2016 Diploradus austiumensis gen. et sp. nov. Clack & Smithson[50]
2016
Aytonerpeton microps
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack & Smithson[50]
2015 Ctenodus williei sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Ctenodus whitropei sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Ctenodus roberti sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Xylognathus macrustenus gen. et sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Ballagadus rossi gen. et sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Ballagadus caustrimi sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Coccovedus celatus gen. et sp. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2015 Occludus romeri gen. nov. Smithson, Richards & Clack[51]
2012
Ymeria denticulata
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack, Ahlberg, Blöm & Finney[52]
2011
Kirktonecta milnerae
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack[53]
2004 Occidens portlocki gen. et sp. nov. Clack & Ahlberg[54]
2003 Kyrinion martilli gen. et sp. nov. Clack[55]
2002
Pederpes finneyae
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack[23]
1998
Eucritta melanolimnetes
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack[22]
1993
Silvanerpeton miripedes
gen. et sp. nov.
Clack[56]

Death

Clack died on 26 March 2020 at the age of 72, after a five-year battle with endometrial cancer.[57]

Honours

In 2008, Clack was awarded the

National Academy of Sciences, the first woman to achieve the honor.[58]

In 2009, Clack was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,[59] the first female vertebrate paleontologist to achieve the honor.[60] She has also been elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[61]

On 15 June 2013, Clack was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree by the University of Chicago. The university described her as "an internationally preeminent palaeontologist whose research has profoundly changed the understanding of the origin of terrestrial vertebrate life."[62] Also in 2013, she was awarded the T Neville George Medal by the Geological Society of Glasgow.[63]

On 17 July 2014, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Leicester.[64] Also in 2014, she was made an Honorary Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[65]

In 2018, she won the Palaeontological Association's most prestigious award, the Lapworth Medal.[66]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "CLACK, Prof. Jennifer Alice". Who's Who 2015. Oxford University Press. November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b Clack, Rob (6 October 2009). "Jenny Clack – Biography". The Clacks. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Congregation of the Regent House on 9 December 2000". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 5831. 13 December 2000. p. 27. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  4. .
  5. ^ .
  6. ^ "Darwin College". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 5718. 5 November 1997. p. 24. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  7. ^ "College Notices – Darwin College". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6396. 23 September 2015. p. 12. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Master & fellows". Darwin College, Cambridge. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Report of the General Board on Senior Academic Promotions". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6036. 17 May 2006. p. 17.
  10. ISSN 0024-4082
    .
  11. ^ Coates, Michael I.; Clack, Jennifer A. (1995). "Romer's gap: Tetrapod origins and terrestriality". Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Section C. 4e série. 17: 373–388.
  12. ^ "Professor Jennifer Clack (Doctor of Science)". Press Office. University of Leicester. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  13. ISSN 0031-0239
    .
  14. ^ "The TWeed project: Evolution's Missing Chapter". National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  15. S2CID 22421017
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  38. ^ "Basal Tetrapoda". Dr. Friedrich Pfeil Publishing. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  39. S2CID 36018536
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  40. .
  41. ^ "BBC Four - Beautiful Minds, Series 2, Professor Jenny Clack". BBC.
  42. ^ "Beautiful Minds: YouTube". YouTube.
  43. S2CID 227241079
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  53. ^ Clack, Jennifer A. (2011). "A new microsaur from the early carboniferous (Viséan) of East Kirkton, Scotland, showing soft tissue evidence". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 29: 45–55.
  54. ^ Clack, Jennifer A.; Ahlberg, Erik (2004). Arratia, G.; Wilson, M.V.H.; Cloutier, R. (eds.). A new stem tetrapod from the Early Carboniferous of Northern Ireland. München: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil. pp. 309–320. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  55. ISSN 0008-4077
    .
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  57. ^ Aucott, Rachel (26 March 2020). "Professor Jenny Clack, FRS, 1947-2020". www.zoo.cam.ac.uk. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  58. ^ "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  59. S2CID 234771873
    .
  60. ^ "Jennifer Clack". Fellows Directory. The Royal Society. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  61. ^ "Featured Scientists | Your Inner Fish | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  62. ^ Koppes, Steve; Allen, Susie (15 May 2013). "University to bestow five honorary degrees at 515th Convocation". U Chicago News. The University of Chicago. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  63. ^ "Two awards". University of Cambridge - Department of Zoology. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  64. ^ "Figures from public life to be honoured by University of Leicester". University of Leicester. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  65. ^ "Six new members elected to the Academy". 3 February 2014.
  66. ^ "Professor Jenny Clack awarded the Palaeontological Association's Lapworth Medal". University of Cambridge - Department of Zoology. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

External links