Matt Lamanna
Encyclopedia
Matt Lamanna is a paleontologist and the assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
, where he oversees the dinosaur
collection.
in Geneva, New York
in 1997. He received high honors in biology and geology. Lamanna went on to get his M.A. and Ph.D. in earth and environmental science from the University of Pennsylvania
.
in Egypt, called the "largest dinosaur ever discovered". The sauropod was 80 feet long and weighed between 40 and 50 tons. The discovery was the feature of a 2-hour documentary The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
Beginning in 2004, Lamanna began work on a series of digs in China. The result, first published in the journal Science in June 2006, was the discovery of Gansus yumenensis
, a missing link in the early evolution of birds.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896...
, where he oversees the dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
collection.
Education
Lamanna graduated from Hobart CollegeHobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...
in Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...
in 1997. He received high honors in biology and geology. Lamanna went on to get his M.A. and Ph.D. in earth and environmental science from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Discoveries
Lamanna first gained fame for the 2000 discovery of ParalititanParalititan
Paralititan was a giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur genus discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. The fossil represents the first tetrapod reported from the Bahariya Formation since 1935. Its 1.69 meter long humerus is longer than that of any...
in Egypt, called the "largest dinosaur ever discovered". The sauropod was 80 feet long and weighed between 40 and 50 tons. The discovery was the feature of a 2-hour documentary The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
Beginning in 2004, Lamanna began work on a series of digs in China. The result, first published in the journal Science in June 2006, was the discovery of Gansus yumenensis
Gansus
Gansus is a genus of aquatic birds that lived during the Aptian or Albian age of the Early Cretaceous period in what is now Gansu province, western China...
, a missing link in the early evolution of birds.