Museums
Twenty Years of Tyrannosaurus Sue
Twenty years ago today, fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson discovered the dinosaur that now bears her name—the immense, 80 percent complete Tyrannosaurus rex called Sue. Arguably the most famous representative of the superstar of the dinosaur world, Sue is one of the most fantastic fossil discoveries ev...
August 12, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Super-Sized Tyrannosaurus Comes to South Dakota
At about 40 feet long, Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest predatory animals that ever lived. But even the skeleton of a fully grown T. rex would be dwarfed by its animatronic likeness now standing outside the Children's Museum of South Dakota. Measuring 60 feet long from nose to tail, the su...
August 10, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
AMNH's "Battling Dinosaurs" Get Split Up
Back in 1991, paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City created one of the most ambitious and controversial dinosaur exhibits ever seen. An homage to the (at the time) new vision of dinosaurs as active, dynamic animals, the skeletal scene depicted an Allosaurus mena...
August 09, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Nina Simon, Museum Visionary
The author helps museums create systems in which visitors participate in exhibition design
August 2010 |
By Erica R. Hendry
Create Your Own Museum: What Dinosaurs Would You Like to See on Display?
I love visiting the fossil halls of natural history museums, but I have to admit that I sometimes yearn to see new specimens on display. Tyrannosaurus, Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Allosaurus, Edmontosaurus—their skeletons remains as impressive as ever, but given all the new dinosaur species discovere...
July 28, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Rebuilding Dinosaur National Monument's Visitor Center
When I was growing up, almost every documentary I saw or dinosaur book I read showed images of the great wall of Jurassic dinosaurs laid out at the Dinosaur National Monument visitor center. The wall, which is the enduring legacy of paleontologist Earl Douglass, who discovered the rich assemblage o...
June 29, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
When Diplodocus Invaded Europe
On July 4, 1899, the steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie finally got his Diplodocus. He had set his eye on this fossil prize in the fall of the previous year when the New York Journal ran a fanciful illustration of the giant dinosaur peeping into a 10th story skyscraper window, and after some initial disa...
June 09, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
New Exhibit Celebrates Tyrannosaurus "Sue"
Ten years ago Chicago's Field Museum unveiled the skeleton of "Sue," the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex yet discovered. She has been a sensation ever since. Tyrannosaurus skeletons are the stars of many fossil halls, but Sue is something special, and to honor her the Field Museum has launched a ne...
June 01, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Tyrannosaurus Comes to New Jersey
For years the New Jersey State Museum has displayed the cast of a complete Tyrannosaurus rex skull collected by Barnum Brown at the beginning of the 20th century, but now it may be getting a T. rex of its very own.As reported last week in the Press of Atlantic City, paleontologists from the New Jer...
May 17, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Smithsonian Highlights Dinosaurs From its Backyard
Late last year, Maryland's Prince George's County got a new dinosaur park—a Cretaceous-age site which will continue to fuel the work of scientists and educate the public about the prehistory of the state. To help celebrate the establishment of this park, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural...
May 06, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
JAM: Jazz Appreciation Month at Smithsonian
Jazz Appreciation Month is in full swing Around the Mall and Beyond! Check out a schedule of upcoming events below or download a PDF for additional information.Tuesday, April 6CONCERTAn Evening with Jon Hendricks. James Zimmerman, Emcee7:30 pm, Howard University, Andrew Rankin Memorial ChapelWedn...
April 06, 2010 |
By Jamie Simon
Bringing a Dryptosaurus Back to Life
In reaction to my post about Dryptosaurus the other week, paleo-artist Michael Skrepnick told me about the efforts of his colleague Tyler Keillor to create a fleshed-out restoration of the dinosaur. I immediately e-mailed Tyler about the project, and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questio...
March 22, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaurs Unleashed Onto London Streets
At the climax of the silent 1925 adaption of The Lost World, a living "Brontosaurus" brought back from a remote Venezuelan plateau wreaks havoc in London. The scene was obviously fiction, but a new exhibit in the heart of the city now allows residents and visitors to imagine what such prehistoric b...
February 23, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
New Mural for Dinosaur National Monument
When I visited Utah's Dinosaur National Monument this past summer the main visitor center (containing the famous rock wall speckled with fossils) was closed, but when it reopens in a few years it will feature a brand new piece of art. Over the course of three months, scientific illustrator Liz Brad...
January 19, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Elvis Sightings: The King Holds Court in Washington, D.C.
What comes to mind when you hear the name Elvis? Musician. Icon. Sex. Spandex. Kitsch. Costello (kidding!). You can play the word association game all day long and no matter what your opinion of the man is—good, bad or indifferent—even the most suspicious minds have to admit that he is one of the g...
January 06, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Mary Anning, an Amazing Fossil Hunter
Though she had little formal education, Mary taught herself geology, paleontology, anatomy and scientific illustration, and her finds were key to the development of the theory of evolution
January 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway
Who's up for a fossil road trip? In 2007 paleoartist Ray Troll and paleobotanist Kirk Johnson published a travelogue of their journey to check out the fossils of the American west called Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway. It is not your average paleo book. Filled with Troll's whimsical pop-art illustrat...
December 18, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Samson the Tyrannosaurus Finds a Temporary Home
This past October, many paleontologists were worried about the fate of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed "Samson."With about 50 percent of his bones recovered, Samson is one of the most complete individual Tyrannosaurus skeletons found to date. This makes Samson a very important specimen. The ...
December 14, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
"Walking With Dinosaurs" Puppet Walks Off
For the past three years, the Walking With Dinosaurs live show has been entertaining arena audiences all over the world, but when the show stopped in Guadalajara, Mexico the crew noticed that one of their cast members was missing. A robotic baby Plateosaurus (which is devoured by the predatory dino...
December 11, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaurs Get Ready to Go to Abu Dhabi
In the summer of 2008, "Einstein," one of the most complete Apatosaurus skeletons ever discovered, made its international debut in the arrivals hall of the Abu Dhabi International Airport. That is a long way from the Wyoming quarry in which it was found. What reason could there be for this unique s...
November 09, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
