Background
Sankar Chatterjee was born on May 28, 1943 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, to Prafulla Chatterjee, a chemist, and Biva (Banerjee) Chatterjee, a homemaker. Sankar arrived in the United States in 1976.
Sankar Chatterjee
Jadavpur university gate, 3, Kolkata, West Bengal 700032, India
In 1962, Sankar received a Bachelor of Science from Jadavpur University. He also received a Master of Science there in 1964.
87, 1, College St, Calcutta University, College Square, Kolkata, West Bengal 700073, India
In 1970, Sankar received a Doctor of Philosophy from Calcutta University.
Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee
(A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty ...)
A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty years ago led paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee on a lifelong quest to understand their place in our understanding of the history of life. They were clearly the bones of something unusual, a bird-like creature that lived long, long ago in the age of dinosaurs. He called it Protoavis, and the animal that owned these bones quickly became a contender for the title of "oldest known bird."
https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Birds-Million-Years-Evolution/dp/1421415909/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Sankar+Chatterjee%2C+The+Rise+of+Birds%3A+225+Million+Years+of+Evolution&qid=1578498172&s=books&sr=1-1
1997
educator paleontologist author
Sankar Chatterjee was born on May 28, 1943 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, to Prafulla Chatterjee, a chemist, and Biva (Banerjee) Chatterjee, a homemaker. Sankar arrived in the United States in 1976.
In 1962, Sankar received a Bachelor of Science from Jadavpur University. He also received a Master of Science there in 1964. In 1970, Sankar also received a Doctor of Philosophy from Calcutta University.
Dr. Sankar Chatterjee is Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Geosciences and curator of paleontology at Texas Tech University, where he has worked since 1979. He has led several expeditions to India, China, Antarctica, and the American Southwest in search of dinosaurs and early birds and has discovered, named, and described several new taxa. He also was the editor of the Journal of Paleontology Special Publications (2009–2011).
Chatterjee's research focuses on Mesozoic vertebrates, flight of pterosaurs and birds, origin of flight, mass extinction, macroevolution, plate tectonics, and paleobiogeography. He is currently designing, with Richard Lind, a pterodactyl-inspired drone, a robotic spy plane to master air, ground, and sea.
(A small set of fossilized bones discovered almost thirty ...)
1997Sankar Chatterjee has been writing scientific articles for the last thirty years in the field of paleontology. He says that unlike physics and mathematics, paleontology is a historical science, and literary background is helpful in reconstructing past history. Paleontologists are story-tellers; they tell tales of ancient life. This is why many paleontologists have developed a great respect for literature. To him, science and art are different ways of looking at the same thing, namely the world.
On his mind, science and art have been drifting apart in recent years. The twentieth century has been an age of revolution in science, yet, in the United States, scientific literacy is in a sad state. A recent National Science Foundation survey showed that fewer than half of American adults understand that the earth orbits the sun. Sankar concurred with the observation of the British novelist C. P. Snow that the chasm between scientists and literary intellectuals was so vast that they could not communicate with each other. As a scientist, he believes that it’s their task to share the romance of science with the general public. In his book The Rise of Birds, Sankar tried to develop a conciliation between the world of science and the world of art.
Quotations: "These animals take the best parts of bats and birds."
Sankar Chatterjee was a member of the Geological Society of America, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also an Honorary Member of the Golden Key National Honor Society.
On February 4, 1971, Sankar married Sibani Mitra, a geographer. They have two children, Soumya and Shuvu.