Jack Horner
Jack Horner
John R. "Jack" Horneris a non-degree holding American paleontologist who discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. He is one of the best-known paleontologists in the World. In addition to his many paleontological discoveries, Horner served as the technical advisor for all of the Jurassic Park films, had a cameo appearance in Jurassic World, and even served as partial inspiration for one of the lead characters, Dr. Alan Grant. He studied...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth15 June 1946
CityShelby, MT
CountryUnited States of America
Most people looking for dinosaurs are looking for beautiful skeletons.
In the future, I'd like to see paleontology as a whole get a lot more quantitative.
A chicken grows up in a little less time than an ostrich. An ostrich takes a whole year. A chicken takes a few months.
I usually work in Montana, that's where I was born and raised and that's where there are lots of places to look, ... Right now I'm looking for animals like Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Scientists who play by someone else's rules don't have much chance of making discoveries.
Some years ago the Smithsonian wanted a T-rex for its new dinosaur hall,
Bigger is not always better. This one has good size and grasping arms. You start getting them too big, and they get pretty clunky.
The fossil record is incredible when it preserves things, but it's not a complete record.
I was born and raised in Montana, so it's certainly an honor for me to be the state paleontologist. I take the honor very seriously. More than anything, it's an honor to be involved in the statewide education of kids.
Right now people are interested in genetic engineering to help the human race. That's a noble cause, and that's where we should be heading. But once we get past that - once we understand what genetic diseases we can deal with - when we start thinking about the future, there's an opportunity to create some new life-forms.
There's an incomparable rush that comes from finding dinosaur bones. You know you're the first person to lay hands on a critter that lived 80 or 90 million years ago.
'Jurassic Park' has a lot of science in it - and a lot of it is wrong - but if it was all accurate, it would be a documentary.
We all have genes that come from our ancestors that aren't used - they're not turned on. So we actually carry ancient genes with us. If you could figure out how to turn those on, you could resurrect ancient characteristics from our ancestors.
In the lifetime of one person, we went from figuring out where we came from to figuring out how to get rid of ourselves.