Come see the library’s new exhibit showcasing the geology of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Pennsylvania display contains geological samples and fossils donated by Dr. Leonard Finegold of the Physics department and Phillip Getty, a local Geological Society member. It is housed in a display case near the stairs on the first floor of W.W. Hagerty Library.
The New Jersey State Museum has loaned us some very interesting specimens to accompany our New Jersey geologic display, which can be found at the top of the stairs on Hagerty’s 2nd floor. We’ve also highlighted some books from the library collection that can teach you more about the specimens displayed or help you plan your next fossil-hunting trip.
Dig it!
Author Talk and Book Signing
Thursday, September 25, 2008
6:30 – 8:30 pmFREE to the Public, RSVP requested |
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The Academy of Natural Sciences and Joseph Fox Bookshop is hosting an entertaining and enlightening evening with Dr. Keith Thomson, professor emeritus of natural history at the University of Oxford and former Academy president, as he discusses his new book, The Legacy of the Mastodon: The Golden Age of Fossils in America.
Legacy tells the story of a great American scientific adventure starring giant extinct mammals and dinosaurs and in which Philadelphians like Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Leidy, Edward Drinker Cope, together with the Academy of Natural Sciences and the American Philosophical Society played the central roles.
The Academy of Natural Sciences plays a central role in the history of paleontology and many of the fossils that Dr. Thomson will discuss are housed in the Academy’s research collections. As a rare bonus to those who attend the lecture, staff from the Vertebrate Paleontology Department at the Academy will give visitors an up close and personal look at some of these uniquely important specimens.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase that evening.
The Paleobiology Database is an international scientific organization run by paleontological researchers from many institutions.
Taxonomic and distributional information about the entire fossil record of plants and animals is brought together in one place.
The goal is to educate the public, summarize the literature for professionals, and foster statistical analyses of mass extinctions and other aspects of biodiversity.
