Paleoblog reminds us that it is Roy Chapman Andrews' birthday. (HT Walter Hingley, once again). Naturalist, intrepid explorer, bone digger, hunter (he shot a Mannlicher- Schonauer 1903 carbine like mine, Savage Model 99's, and Savage bolt actions in .250- 3000), writer, self- promoter, and sometime director of the American Museum of Natural History, he was the closest thing to Indiana Jones in the real world.
Father Bakewell knew him, and he was a childhood idol of mine.He may have rubbed more modest scientists the wrong way, but he had a genius for finding remarkable things even while looking for others; his expedition discovered dinosaur eggs in a nest, iconic fossils which I saw and touched in Ulan Bataar, while looking for human ancestors.
His many books are still readable. You can join the Roy Chapman Andrews Society here.
Never let it be said that he was not an inspiration...
2 comments:
What a life he lived, in such a vivid era. Thanks for the b-day post.
Jim Cornelius
www.frontierpartisans.com
He certainly opened up the world for me when I was a boy with his many juvenile works.
When I was in graduate school, I was thrilled to learn that the archaeologist who accompanied Andrews on the Gobi expeditions, Nels C. Nelson, had also worked near where I did my thesis research in the Mesa Verde area. I saw a Nelson autograph on the wall of a cliff-dwelling once.
Post a Comment