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Dinosaur Guru to Speak at SmithThe man who is credited with being the person on whom the lead character in the novel and film "Jurassic Park" is based will speak at Smith College on Monday, Nov. 17. John P. Horner, a paleontologist from Montana State University, will talk about "Dinosaur Lives" at a lecture at 5 p.m. in Wright Hall auditorium. Horner, who is also curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, served as an adviser to Stephen Spielberg's dinosaur sequel "The Lost World of Jurassic Park." In his professional capacity, he has suggested the controversial premise that the two-legged brute Tyrannosaurus rex, shown terrorizing people right and left in "The Lost World," may actually possess a genetic affinity with buzzards and turkeys, rather than with modern reptiles like the Gila monster or aggressive Komodo dragon. The evidence Horner presents is based on T-rex skeletons (only a dozen are known to exist in the world) excavated from several sites in the American West and Canada. The editor of "Dinosaur Eggs and Babies," Horner is the co-author of four popular books: "Maia, A Dinosaur Grows Up"; "Digging Dinosaurs"; "Digging Up Tyrannosaurus Rex"; and "The Complete T. Rex." He is the recipient of a number of grants and awards, including a MacArthur Prize and the American Geological Institute's 1995 award for outstanding contribution to the public understanding of geology. Horner's visit to Smith is sponsored jointly by Smith's chapters of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa and its departments of biology and geology. His lecture is free and open to the public. |
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