Philip J. Currie
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{{Infobox Scientist
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|name = Philip J. Currie
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|birth_date = [[1949-03-13]]<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
|birth_place = Brampton, Ontario (Canada)<ref name=CanadianEncyclopedia/>
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|nationality = Canadian
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|fields = Paleontology
|workplaces = Royal Alberta Museum,<br/> Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology,<br/> University of Alberta
|alma_mater = University of Toronto,<br/> McGill University<ref name=UAlberta/>
|doctoral_advisor = Robert L. Carroll<ref name=festschrift/>
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'''Philip J. Currie''' (born [[1949-03-13]] in [[Brampton, Ontario]]<ref name=CanadianEncyclopedia>{{cite web | url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009228 | title = Currie, Philip J. | accessdate = 2008-07-02 | work = The Canadian Encyclopedia | publisher = Historica Foundation}}</ref>) is a [[Canada|Canadian]] [[palaeontologist]] and museum [[curator]] who helped found the [[Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology]] in [[Drumheller, Alberta]] and is now a professor at the [[University of Alberta]] in [[Edmonton]]. In the 1980s he became the director of the Canada-[[China]] Dinosaur Project, the first cooperative palaeontological partnering between China and the West since the Central Asiatic Expeditions in the 1920s, and helped describe some of the first [[feathered dinosaurs]].<ref name=CanadianEncyclopedia/><ref name=festschrift/> He is one of the primary editors of the influential ''Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs'',<ref name=EoD>{{cite book | author = Currie, Philip J. | coauthors = Padian, Kevin (eds.) | title = Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs | publisher = Academic Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 0-12-226810-5}}</ref> and his areas of expertise include [[theropod]]s, the [[origin of birds]], and dinosaurian migration patterns and herding behavior.<ref name=CalgaryHerald>{{cite news | last = | first = | title = Biographies: Born 1949–1954 | publisher = Calgary Herald | date = 2008-06-08 | url = http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/features/greatest/story.html?id=71afcf88-ab0e-4bf4-ba2e-4b73d9f0ec9e | accessdate = 2008-07-02}}</ref>
== Biography ==
Currie received his Bachelors of Science degree from the [[University of Toronto]] in 1972, a Masters of Science from [[McGill University]] in 1975, and a Ph.D. in [[biology]] (with distinction) from the same institution in 1981.<ref name=UAlberta>{{cite web | url = http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/philip_currie/ | title = Dr. Philip J Currie > Professor | accessdate = 2008-07-02 | date = 2006-08-17 | work = Faculty of Science | publisher = University of Alberta Department of Biological Sciences}}</ref> Both his masters and Ph.D. theses were on [[synapsid]]s and early aquatic [[diapsid]]s.<ref name=festschrift/>
Currie became [[curator]] of [[earth science]]s at the Provincial Museum of Alberta (which became the [[Royal Alberta Museum]] in 2005) in [[Edmonton, Alberta|Edmonton]] in 1976 just as be began the Ph.D. program. Within three seasons he had so much success at fieldwork that the province began planning a larger museum to hold the collection. The collection became part of the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, which was completed in 1985 (the "Royal" epithet was added in 1990),<ref name=festschrift/> and Currie was appointed curator of dinosaurs.<ref name=CanadianEncyclopedia/>
In 1986, Currie became the co-director of the joint Canada-China Dinosaur Project, with [[Dale Russell]] of the [[Canadian Museum of Nature]] in [[Ottawa]] and [[Dong Zhiming]] of the [[Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology]] in [[Beijing]].<ref name=festschrift/>
== Contributions to palaeontology ==
Over the last 25 years he has worked on [[fossil]] discovery in [[Mongolia]], [[Argentina]], [[Dinosaur Provincial Park]], [[Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park]], and many other locations.
His contributions to paleontology include synonymizing the genera ''[[Troödon]]'' and ''[[Stenonychosaurus]]'' in 1987 (with the former name taking precedence). The similaries between the troödonts and birds made him a major proponent of the theory that dinosaurs are descended from birds.<ref name=MrLucky/>
As part of the joint China-Canadian Dinosaur Project he helped describe two of the first dinosaur specimens from the [[lagerstätten]] of the [[Liaoning]] province in China that clearly showed the impression of feathers: ''[[Protarchaeopteryx]]''<ref>{{cite journal | author = Ji Qiang | coauthors = Ji Shu-An | year = 1997 | title = A Chinese archaeopterygian, ''Protarchaeopteryx'' gen. nov. | journal = Geological Science and Technology (Di Zhi Ke Ji) | volume = 238 | pages = 38–41}}. Translated by the Will Downs Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, 2001.</ref><ref name=Ji1998/> and ''[[Caudipteryx]]''.<ref name=Ji1998>{{cite journal | author = Ji Qiang | coauthors = Currie, Philip J.; Norell, Mark A.; Ji Shu-An | date = 1998-06-25 | title = Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China | journal = Nature | volume = 393 | issue = | pages = 753–762 | doi = 10.1038/31635 | url = http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/philip_currie/uploads/pdfs/1998/1998Caudipteryx.pdf | format = pdf}}</ref> In contrast with the 1996 discovery of ''[[Sinosauropteryx]]'', which only showed the impression of downy filaments, these were indisputably feathers.<ref name=MrLucky/> This not only helped cement the theory that birds are descended from dinosaurs, but indicated that many dromaeosaurids were feathered.<ref name=OfAFeather/> This discovery made him a celebrity, featured in numerous popular articles and documentaries, and he even became one of the models for palaeontologist Alan Grant in the film ''[[Jurassic Park]]''.<ref name=MrLucky/>
In 1997, Currie teamed up with Microsoft's Chief Technical Officer Nathan Myhrvold to create a computer model demonstrating that diplodocids could snap their tails like whips, and create small sonic booms.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Myhrvold | first = Nathan P. | coauthors = Currie, Philip J. | year = 1997 | title = Supersonic sauropods? Tail dynamics in the diplodocids | journal = Paleobiology | volume = 23 | pages = 393–409}}</ref> He was involved in the 1999 [[National Geographic]] "[[Archeoraptor]]" scandal.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sloan | first = Christopher P. | year = 1999 | month = November | title = Feathers for ''T. rex'' | journal = [[National Geographic]] | issue = 5 | volume = 196 | publisher = National Geographic Society | pages = 98–107 | url = | accessdate = }}</ref>
Currie became increasing skeptical of the orthodoxy that carnivorous dinosaurs were solitary animals. However their was no evidence for his hypothesis that they might have sometimes lived in packs. However he tracked down a site mentioned by [[Barnum Brown]] and there found 12 specimens of ''[[Albertosaurus]]''.<ref>{{cite web| title=Extreme Dinosaurs| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/extremedino_transcript.shtml| year=2000}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Currie is a life-long science-fiction fan, and fan of the works of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. He is married to [[palaeobotanist]] [[Eva Koppelhus]], and has three sons from a previous marriage.{{fact|date=July 2008|Personal details on a living subject should be referenced.}}
== Awards and recognition ==
* 1981: Doctoral thesis nominated for the Canadian Society of Zoologist's best thesis of the year<ref name=festschrift/>
* 1988: [[Frederick W. A. G. Haultain|Sir Frederick Haultain]] Award for significant contributions to science in Alberta<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
* 1998: Featured as one of 12 outstanding Canadians in ''[[Maclean's]]''<ref>{{cite journal | last = Bergman | first = B. | date = [[1998-12-21]] | title = ''Maclean's'' honour roll: Philip Currie | journal = Maclean's | volume = | issue = | pages = 65}}</ref>
* 1998: Featured on the front cover of the Canadian issue of ''Time''<ref name=OfAFeather>{{cite journal | last = Lemonick | first = Michael D. | date = [[1998-07-06]] | title = Dinosaurs of a Feather | journal = Time | volume = 151 | issue = 26 | pages = 48–50 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988668,00.html | accessdate = 2008-07-03}}</ref><ref name=MrLucky>{{cite journal | last = Purvis | first = Andrew | date = [[1998-07-06]] | title = Call Him Mr. Lucky | journal = Time | volume = 151 | issue = 26 | pages = 52–55 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980706/science.call_him_mr._luc4.html | accessdate = 2008-07-03}}</ref>
* 1999: The [[American Association of Petroleum Geologists]]' Michel T. Halbouty Human Needs Award<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
* 1999: Elected to the [[Royal Society of Canada]]<ref name=festschrift/>
* 2001: The [[festschrift]] ''Mesozoic Vertebrate Life: New Research Inspired by the Paleontology of Philip J. Currie'' was published in his honor<ref name=festschrift>{{cite book | author = Tanke, Darren | coauthors = Carpenter, Karen (eds.) | title = Mesozoic Vertebrate life: New Research Inspired by the Paleontology of Philip J. Currie | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-253-33907-3 }}</ref>
* 2003: Ranked as one of Canada's top five explorers by [[Time magazine]]<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
* 2004: Michael Smith Award<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
* 2006: ASTech Award<ref name=CalgaryHerald/>
== Selected works ==
* {{cite journal | last = Currie | first = Philip J. (ed.) | year = 1993 | title = Results from the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project | journal = Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences | volume = 30 | issue = | pages = 1997–2272}}
* {{cite journal | last = Currie | first = Philip J. (ed.) | year = 1996 | title = Results from the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project, Part 2 | journal = Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences | volume = 33 | issue = | pages = 511–648}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{lifetime|1949||Currie, Philip J.}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian paleontologists]]