Paul Sereno
A professor at the University of Chicago and a member of National
Geographic's "Dream Team" of Explorers-in-Residence, Paul
Sereno has unearthed discoveries that have revolutionized paleontology
and rewritten the book on dinosaur evolution.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, the son of an artist mother and engineer father, Sereno at first thought he would follow in his mother's footsteps. But a fateful college trip to New York City's American Museum of Natural History pointed him in a new direction. A PhD in geology from Columbia was the result. "Paleontology," he later said, offered an "irresistible combination of travel, adventure, art, biology and geology."
His ensuing expeditions have taken him from Africa to Argentina, from Mongolia to Texas. His discoveries include Afrovenator, a previously unknown 27-foot-long predator, Eoraptor, a new species that dates to the dawn of the dinosaur era 228 million years ago and colossal Jobaria tiguidensis, a 60-foot-long herbivore. Perhaps his most famous discovery was Sarcosuchus imperator, better known as "SuperCroc," a 40-foot-long crocodile that prowled the earth 110 million years ago and weighed an intimidating 17,500 pounds.
With his wife, educator Gabrielle Lyon, Sereno is co-founder of Project Exploration, a not-for-profit outreach organization dedicated to bringing natural science to the public and providing innovative educational opportunities for city youths. An award-winning teacher and respected author, he was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People for 1997, and Esquire selected him as one of the 100 Best People in the World the same year.