Background
Thomson, Keith Stewart was born on July 29, 1938 in Heanor, England. Son of Ronald William and Marian Adelaide (Coster) Thomson.
(Fossils have been vital to our understanding of the forma...)
Fossils have been vital to our understanding of the formation of the earth and the origins of life. However, their impact has not been limited to debates about geology and evolution: attempts to explain their existence has shaken religion at its very roots, and they have remained a subject of ceaseless fascination for people of all ages and backgrounds. In this readable and wide-ranging book, Keith Thomson provides a remarkably all-encompassing explanation of fossils as a phenomenon. How did Darwin use fossils to support his theory of evolution? What are "living fossils"? What fossils will we leave behind for future generations to examine? Beyond the scientific aspects, Thomson highlights the impact of fossils on philosophy and mythology, our concept of time, and today's popular culture. From the black market to the Piltdown Man, and from mythological dragons to living dinosaurs, fossils hold a permanent place in the popular imagination.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0192805045/?tag=2022091-20
(Tells the story of the grandest period of fossil discover...)
Tells the story of the grandest period of fossil discovery in American history, the years from 1750 to 1890. This volume begins with Thomas Jefferson, whose keen interest in the American mastodon led him to champion the study of fossil vertebrates. It also provides descriptions of the actual work of prospecting for fossils.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FDV81IY/?tag=2022091-20
( Thomas Jefferson once wrote to a friend that politics w...)
Thomas Jefferson once wrote to a friend that politics was his "duty" but natural history was his "passion." As this book shows, he was always a man for whom nature was important. With his devotion to detailed knowledge, precise calculation, and rational enquiry, natural history related to everything he did, as a farmer, as a philosopher, and as a citizen. For all his gifts in philosophy and politics and his fascination with the American West, he was never more happy than at home at Monticello, riding across the fields and experimenting with new crops. The great wonder is that, in addition to his public life, he had time to be one of American's first serious students of, among other things, fossils, botany, climate, geology, and anthropology. Author, Keith Thomson was a visiting fellow at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation's Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies in 2007. He is professor emeritus of natural history at Yale University and senior research fellow of the American Philosophical Society. Author of twelve other books on evolution, paleontology, and the history of science, he was previously professor and dean at Yale, president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and university scientist-in-residence at the New School for Social Research.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1882886267/?tag=2022091-20
(Off the coast of southern Africa, in the winter of 1938, ...)
Off the coast of southern Africa, in the winter of 1938, a fishing boat, The Nerine, dragged from the Chalumna River a fish thought extince for 70 million yeasr. Here is the true story of that event and its significnce. The author also describes the life and habitat of the coelacanth and what has been learned about it during the years since it was first discovered.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0091751152/?tag=2022091-20
( "An engrossing tale of obsession, adventure and scienti...)
"An engrossing tale of obsession, adventure and scientific reasoning." —Betty Ann Kevles, Los Angeles Times In the winter of 1938, a fishing boat by chance dragged from the Indian Ocean a fish thought extinct for 70 million years. It was a coelacanth, which thrived concurrently with dinosaurs and pterodactyls—an animal of major importance to those who study the history of vertebrate life. Living Fossil describes the life and habitat of the coelcanth and what scientists have learned about it during fifty years of research. It is an exciting and very human story, filled with ambitious and brilliant people, that reveals much about the practice of modern science.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393029565/?tag=2022091-20
( The uncovering in the mid-1700s of fossilized mastodon ...)
The uncovering in the mid-1700s of fossilized mastodon bones and teeth at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, signaled the beginning of a great American adventure. The West was opening up and unexplored lands beckoned. Unimagined paleontological treasures awaited discovery: strange horned mammals, birds with teeth, flying reptiles, gigantic fish, diminutive ancestors of horses and camels, and more than a hundred different kinds of dinosaurs. This exciting book tells the story of the grandest period of fossil discovery in American history, the years from 1750 to 1890. The volume begins with Thomas Jefferson, whose keen interest in the American mastodon led him to champion the study of fossil vertebrates. The book continues with vivid descriptions of the actual work of prospecting for fossils--a pick in one hand, a rifle in the other--and enthralling portraits of Joseph Leidy, Ferdinand Hayden, Edward Cope, and Othniel Marsh among other major figures in the development of the science of paleontology. Shedding new light on these scientists’ feuds and rivalries, on the connections between fossil studies in Europe and America, and on paleontology’s contributions to America’s developing national identity, The Legacy of the Mastodon is itself a fabulous discovery for every reader to treasure.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300117043/?tag=2022091-20
( What sort of person was the young naturalist who develo...)
What sort of person was the young naturalist who developed an evolutionary idea so logical, so dangerous, that it has dominated biological science for a century and a half? How did the quiet and shy Charles Darwin produce his theory of natural selection when many before him had started down the same path but failed? This book is the first to inquire into the range of influences and ideas, the mentors and rivals, and the formal and informal education that shaped Charles Darwin and prepared him for his remarkable career of scientific achievement. Keith Thomson concentrates on Darwin’s early life as a schoolboy, a medical student at Edinburgh, a theology student at Cambridge, and a naturalist aboard the Beagle on its famous five-year voyage. Closely analyzing Darwin’s Autobiography and scientific notebooks, the author draws a fully human portrait of Darwin for the first time: a vastly erudite and powerfully ambitious individual, self-absorbed but lacking self-confidence, hampered as much as helped by family, and sustained by a passion for philosophy and logic. Thomson’s account of the birth and maturing of Darwin’s brilliant theory is fascinating for the way it reveals both his genius as a scientist and the human foibles and weaknesses with which he mightily struggled.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030016789X/?tag=2022091-20
("After having twice been driven back by heavy south-west ...)
"After having twice been driven back by heavy south-west gales, His Majesty's Ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1813". These words open Darwin's story of his historical voyage in the "Beagle". Darwin's views and his books are well known but very little is known of the ship that circumnavigated the world. The "Beagle" was not a dashing frigate of the time but was known in its day as a "coffin brig", more likely to founder than to sail twice round the world. While the "Darwin voyage" has been celebrated in the history of exploration, her other two voyages - a prior survey of South America, including Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn, and the first complete exploration of the coasts of Australia - are less well known. This work provides a biography of the "Beagle" and her crew whose voyages figured so prominently in the natural science of the 1830s and 1840s. Commencing with the discovery of plans that show how she was laid down, the book describes her three major rebuildings, the reconstruction of the cabin in which Darwin lived and worked, and her last days as Watch Vessel 7, in 1870.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393037789/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006DUU40C/?tag=2022091-20
(Today developmental and evolutionary biologists are focus...)
Today developmental and evolutionary biologists are focussing renewed attention on the developmental process--those genetic and cellular factors that influence variation in individual body shape or metabolism--in an attempt to better understand how evolutionary trends and patterns within individuals might be limited and controlled. In this important work, the author reviews the classical literature on embryology, morphogenesis, and paleontology, and presents recent genetic and molecular studies on development. The result is a unique perspective on a set of problems of fundamental importance to developmental and evolutionary biologists.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195049128/?tag=2022091-20
Thomson, Keith Stewart was born on July 29, 1938 in Heanor, England. Son of Ronald William and Marian Adelaide (Coster) Thomson.
Bachelor of Science with honors, University Birmingham, England, 1960. A.M., Harvard University, 1961. Doctor of Philosophy (North Atlantic Treaty Organization fellow), Harvard University, 1963.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization postdoctoral fellow University College, London University, 1963-1965. Assistant professor to professor biology Yale University, 1965-1987, dean Graduate School, 1979-1987. Director Peabody Museum Natural History, 1976-1979.
President Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1987-1995. Distinguished scientist-in-residence New Sch Social Research, New York City, 1996-1998. Professor, director Museum Natural History Oxford University, 1998—2003, professor emeritus, since 2003.
Senior research fellow American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, since 2003. Director Sears Foundation Marine Research and Oceanographic History. Honorary research fellow Australian National University, 1967.
Trustee, member corporation Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Board directors Wistar Institute, Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, Wetlands Institute, Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Charles Darwin Trust. Researcher in vertebrate evolution.
( What sort of person was the young naturalist who develo...)
(Today developmental and evolutionary biologists are focus...)
( The great Piltdown fraud, the mystery of how a shark sw...)
("After having twice been driven back by heavy south-west ...)
(Off the coast of southern Africa, in the winter of 1938, ...)
( The uncovering in the mid-1700s of fossilized mastodon ...)
(Tells the story of the grandest period of fossil discover...)
( Thomas Jefferson once wrote to a friend that politics w...)
(Fossils have been vital to our understanding of the forma...)
( "An engrossing tale of obsession, adventure and scienti...)
Fellow Linnean Society London, Zoological Society London. Member Society Vertebrate Palaeontology, Sigma Xi. M C.
Married Linda Gailbreath Price, September 27, 1963. Children: Jessica Adelaide, Elizabeth Rose.