John Ostrom and Deinonychus skeleton cast. Photo courtesy Yale University.
Born
(1928-02-18)February 18, 1928
New York City, New York
Died
July 16, 2005(2005-07-16) (aged 77)
Litchfield, Connecticut
Nationality
American
Alma mater
Union College (BS) Columbia University (PhD)
Known for
The "Dinosaur renaissance"
Awards
Hayden Memorial Geological Award (1986) Romer-Simpson Medal (1994)
Scientific career
Fields
Paleontology
Doctoral students
Robert T. Bakker Thomas Holtz
John Harold Ostrom (February 18, 1928 – July 16, 2005) was an American paleontologist who revolutionized the modern understanding of dinosaurs.[1] Ostrom's work inspired what his pupil Robert T. Bakker has termed a "dinosaur renaissance".[2][3]
Beginning with the discovery of Deinonychus in 1964, Ostrom challenged the widespread belief that dinosaurs were slow-moving lizards (or "saurians"). He argued that Deinonychus, a small two-legged carnivore, would have been fast-moving and warm-blooded.[4][5]
Further, Ostrom's work made zoologists question whether birds should be considered an order of Reptilia instead of their own class, Aves.[6]
The idea that dinosaurs were similar to birds was first proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s, but was dismissed by Gerhard Heilmann in his influential book The Origin of Birds (1926).[7][8][9] Prior to Ostrom's work, the development of birds was generally believed to have split off early on from that of dinosaurs.[10]
Ostrom showed more bird-like traits common in dinosaurs and proved that birds themselves are in fact a group of coelurosaurian theropods, a descendant of dinosaurs.[11][6][8][12]
The first of Ostrom's broad-based reviews of the osteology and phylogeny of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx appeared in 1976.[13] Ostrom lived to see the eventual discovery of feathered dinosaurs in northeastern China, confirming his theories about dinosaurs being progenitors of birds, and the existence of dinosaurs with feathered plumage.[2][14]
^Stoddart, Charlotte (13 June 2023). "The fossil that launched a dinosaur revolution". Knowable Magazine | Annual Reviews. doi:10.1146/knowable-060923-1. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
^ abCite error: The named reference Conniff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bakker, Robert T. (April 1, 1975). "Dinosaur Renaissance". Scientific American. 232 (4): 58. Bibcode:1975SciAm.232d..58B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0475-58.
^Siegel, Robert (July 21, 2005). "Influential Paleontologist John Ostrom, 77, Dies". NPR / All Things Considered. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
^"In Memoriam: John Ostrom". Yale Bulletin and Calendar. 34 (1). August 26, 2005.
^ abWellnhofer, Peter (2010). "A short history of research on Archaeopteryx and its relationship with dinosaurs". In Moody, Richard (ed.). Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. Geological Society of London. pp. 237–250. ISBN 978-1-86239-311-0.
^Ries, C. J. (April 2007). "Creating the Proavis: bird origins in the art and science of Gerhard Heilmann 1913–1926". Archives of Natural History. 34 (1): 1–19. doi:10.3366/anh.2007.34.1.1. ISSN 0260-9541.
^ abHavstad, Joyce C; Smith, N Adam (1 September 2019). "Fossils with Feathers and Philosophy of Science". Systematic Biology. 68 (5): 840–851. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz010. PMC 6701454. PMID 30753719. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^Heilmann, G. (1926). The origin of birds. London: Witherby.
^Galton, Peter M. (June 1970). "Ornithischian Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds". Evolution. 24 (2): 448–462. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1970.tb01775.x. PMID 28565073. S2CID 5512265.
^Cracraft, Joel (1977). "John Ostrom's Studies on Archaeopteryx, the Origin of Birds, and the Evolution of Avian Flight". The Wilson Bulletin. 89 (3): 488–492. ISSN 0043-5643. JSTOR 4160962. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^Bakker, Robert T. (1986). The dinosaur heresies: new theories unlocking the mystery of the dinosaurs and their extinction(PDF) (6.print. ed.). New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-04287-2.
^Cite error: The named reference Rauhut was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Dinosaurs in Your Garden". BBC - Science & Nature. 18 October 2002.
John Harold Ostrom (February 18, 1928 – July 16, 2005) was an American paleontologist who revolutionized the modern understanding of dinosaurs. Ostrom's...
Look up ostrom in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Ostrom or Öström is a Swedish surname meaning "island stream". Many of the Ostroms in North America...
Elinor Claire "Lin" Ostrom (née Awan; August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political scientist and political economist whose work was associated...
Deinonychus have been found much farther east in Maryland. Paleontologist JohnOstrom's study of Deinonychus in the late 1960s revolutionized the way scientists...
archaeologists to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. Yale paleontologist JohnOstrom, who reintroduced the theory of bird evolution from dinosaurs after his...
review of the remains that disagreed with the taxonomic conclusions. JohnOstrom described another good specimen (FMNH P27393) from New Mexico as P. cyrtocristatus...
twentieth century. This new view of dinosaurs was championed particularly by JohnOstrom, who argued that birds evolved from coelurosaurian dinosaurs, and Robert...
years ago. It contains two species, Tenontosaurus tilletti (described by JohnOstrom in 1970) and Tenontosaurus dossi (described by Winkler, Murry, and Jacobs...
Ostromia (Thick feet of JohnOstrom) is a genus of anchiornithid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Painten Formation of Germany. The genus contains...
individual variation within one (or two) species gained popularity. In 1986, JohnOstrom and Peter Wellnhofer published a paper in which they proposed that there...
Pterodactylus crassipes in 1857 by Meyer. It was reclassified in 1970 by JohnOstrom and is currently located at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands...
greatly restricting mobility in both the neck and upper tail. Since JohnOstrom first described Sauropelta in 1970, it has been recognized as a member...
Latin avis "bird". The specific name, R. ostromi, was coined in honor of JohnOstrom. The fossilized remains of Rahonavis were first recovered from the Maevarano...
difference at the species level, naming a Coelurus hermanni, but in 1980 JohnOstrom revived the genus. In his 1903 description, Osborn wrote that the length...
the remains were found. The specific name, ostrommaysi, is in honor to JohnOstrom for his investigations on Deinonychus and its relationships to birds...
specimen as a different genus, Archaeornis. American paleontologist JohnOstrom later identified the structure as part of the right coracoid based on...
dinosaur that he christened Utahraptor ostrommaysi -- ostrom for Yale University scientist JohnOstrom and maysi for his boss. "I just threw 'Mays' on there;...
dinosaur was described and named Deinonychus by JohnOstrom of Yale University. The next year, Ostrom redescribed a specimen of Pterodactylus in the Dutch...
a partial pelvis, and partial hindlimbs. It was not until 1970 that JohnOstrom described the type specimen as part of his work on the Cloverly Formation...
the association with the later material referred by von Huene. In 1982 JohnOstrom claimed that SMNS 12352 and SMNS 12352a originated from a taxon different...
paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts. In the 1960s, paleontologist JohnOstrom began work on the theropod Deinonychus. His findings, which were expanded...
found to be inconsistent with corresponding impressions on the slab. JohnOstrom thoroughly described the German specimen as well as the newly discovered...
Vincent Alfred Ostrom (September 25, 1919 – June 29, 2012) was an American political economist and the Founding Director of the Ostrom Workshop based...
of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, and Dr. JohnOstrom of the Peabody Museum, in Peabody, Massachusetts. The sculptor, Louis...
fast, and closely related to birds. Robert Bakker's illustration for JohnOstrom's 1969 monograph, showing the dromaeosaurid Deinonychus in a fast run...
eliminated the gliding intermediate. This theory was modified in the 1970s by JohnOstrom to describe the use of wings as an insect-foraging mechanism which then...
dinosaur ectothermy was challenged by scientists like Robert T. Bakker and JohnOstrom in the early years of the "Dinosaur Renaissance", beginning in the late...
remains ongoing. Several seminal studies led to this activity. First, JohnOstrom discovered the bird-like dromaeosaurid theropod Deinonychus and described...
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