Alfred Romer
Encyclopedia
Alfred Sherwood Romer was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist
and a specialist in vertebrate
evolution
.
, New York, and studied at Amherst College
and Columbia University
, graduating with a doctorate in zoology
in 1921. Romer joined the department of geology and paleontology at the University of Chicago as an associate professor in 1923. He was an active researcher and teacher. His collecting program added important Paleozoic specimens to the Walker Museum of Paleontology. In 1934 he was appointed professor of biology
at Harvard University
. In 1946, he also became director of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
. In 1954 Romer was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson Medal
from the National Academy of Sciences
. He was awarded the Academy's Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
in 1956.
, comparative anatomy
, and embryology
, he taught the basic structural and functional changes that happened during the evolution
of fish
es to primitive terrestrial vertebrate
s and from these to all other tetrapod
s. He always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the relationship between the form and function of animals and the environment.
Through his textbook Vertebrate Paleontology
Romer laid the foundation for the traditional classification of vertebrates. He drew together the (then) widely scattered taxonomy of the different vertebrate groups and combined them in a simplified scheme, emphasizing orderliness and overview. Based on his research of early amphibians, he reorganised the labyrinthodontia
ns. Romer's classification was followed by many subsequent authors, notably Robert L. Carroll
, and is still in use.
after Romer, as is the term Romeriida
(a cladistic term for all reptiles and birds, but excluding turtles). In July 2007 a species of pre-dinosaur or Dinosauromorpha
was named Dromomeron romeri, "the first part meaning 'running femur,' the latter in honor of paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer, a key figure in evolution research". The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough proving dinosaurs and dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 million to 20 million years."
Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the early land fauna of the Devonian
and the later Carboniferous
period, a gap that still bears the name Romer's gap
.
Comparative anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:...
and a specialist in vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
.
Biography
Alfred Romer was born in White PlainsWhite Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, New York, and studied at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, graduating with a doctorate in zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
in 1921. Romer joined the department of geology and paleontology at the University of Chicago as an associate professor in 1923. He was an active researcher and teacher. His collecting program added important Paleozoic specimens to the Walker Museum of Paleontology. In 1934 he was appointed professor of biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. In 1946, he also became director of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
Museum of Comparative Zoology
The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three museums which collectively comprise the Harvard Museum...
. In 1954 Romer was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson Medal
Mary Clark Thompson Medal
The Mary Clark Thompson Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for most important service to geology and paleontology." Named after Mary Clark Thompson, it was first awarded in 1921.- List of Mary Clark Thompson Medal winners :...
from the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. He was awarded the Academy's Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917....
in 1956.
Evolutionary research
Romer was very keen in investigating vertebrate evolution. Comparing facts from paleontologyPaleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, comparative anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, and embryology
Embryology
Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...
, he taught the basic structural and functional changes that happened during the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es to primitive terrestrial vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s and from these to all other tetrapod
Tetrapod
Tetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...
s. He always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the relationship between the form and function of animals and the environment.
Through his textbook Vertebrate Paleontology
Vertebrate Paleontology (Romer)
Vertebrate Paleontology is an advanced textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Alfred Sherwood Romer, published by the University of Chicago Press. It went through three editions and for many years constituted a very authoritative work and the definitive coverage of the subject. A condensed...
Romer laid the foundation for the traditional classification of vertebrates. He drew together the (then) widely scattered taxonomy of the different vertebrate groups and combined them in a simplified scheme, emphasizing orderliness and overview. Based on his research of early amphibians, he reorganised the labyrinthodontia
Labyrinthodontia
Labyrinthodontia is an older term for any member of the extinct subclass of amphibians, which constituted some of the dominant animals of Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic times . The group is ancestral to all extant landliving vertebrates, and as such constitutes an evolutionary grade rather...
ns. Romer's classification was followed by many subsequent authors, notably Robert L. Carroll
Robert L. Carroll
Robert Lynn Carroll is a vertebrate paleontologist who specialises in Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians and reptiles.Carroll was an only child and grew up on a farm near Lansing, Michigan...
, and is still in use.
Namesake
A small genus of primitive reptiles is named RomeriaRomeria (genus)
Romeria is an extinct genus of Early Permian captorinid known from Texas of the United States. It was first named by Llewellyn Ivor Price in 1937 and the type species is Romeria texana. R. texana is known from the holotype MCZ 1480, a three-dimensionally preserved skull...
after Romer, as is the term Romeriida
Romeriida
Romeriida is a clade of reptiles that consists of diapsids and the extinct protorothyridid genus Paleothyris, if not the entire family Protorothyrididae. It is phylogenetically defined by Laurin & Reisz as the last common ancestor of Paleothyris and diapsids, and all its descendants...
(a cladistic term for all reptiles and birds, but excluding turtles). In July 2007 a species of pre-dinosaur or Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauromorpha is the name of a clade of archosaurs that includes the closest relatives of dinosaurs, and the order Dinosauria itself. Basal forms include Saltopus, Marasuchus, the perhaps identical Lagosuchus, the lagerpetonids Lagerpeton from the Ladinian of Argentina and Dromomeron from the...
was named Dromomeron romeri, "the first part meaning 'running femur,' the latter in honor of paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer, a key figure in evolution research". The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough proving dinosaurs and dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 million to 20 million years."
Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the early land fauna of the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
and the later Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
period, a gap that still bears the name Romer's gap
Romer's gap
Romer's Gap is an example of a gap in the fossil record used in the study of evolution. Such gaps represent a period from which excavators have found no or very few fossils. Romer's gap is named after paleontologist Dr...
.
Books
- Romer, A.S. 1933. Vertebrate PaleontologyVertebrate Paleontology (Romer)Vertebrate Paleontology is an advanced textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Alfred Sherwood Romer, published by the University of Chicago Press. It went through three editions and for many years constituted a very authoritative work and the definitive coverage of the subject. A condensed...
. 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)
External links
- http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/ROME1894.htm