Scholarly Colloquia and Events

  • 1/27 Geoscience Seminar Series

    Geoscience Spring 2015 Seminar Series

    Tuesday January 27th

    12:30PM

    Beach Hall 233

    Timothy Rowe, University of Texas at Austin

    "Forensic Paleontology"

    Like great paintings and sculptures, fossils propel the human mind and spirit over vast expanses of history and experience.  Like great works of art, fossils can command great prices.  But unlike art, fossils were not created as expressions of personal endeavor, or as commodities to be sold.  They are relicts of the Nature’s deep time with a unique signal on her future, and most nations on Earth have enacted legislation that consign their sovereign fossils to the realm of science and to the Public Trust.  But with a potential price tag, like art, fossils are the victims of forgery, fraud, smuggling, and some of the most entertaining incidents in the history of science. What was the motivation behind Dr. Beringer’s “Lying Stones and how did the case end?”  Who was the culprit in the infamous Piltdown Man hoax?  Is that case really closed too?  And what is the story behind the Chinese “feathered dinosaurs” that have raised a scientific sensation in the last 20 years?  Are they real or are they fake?  How can we tell?  New technologies offer an amazing look inside genuine fossils, as well as into “genuine fakes,” at how they were created, and at the toll that science and the Public Trust suffers at the hands of forgers and smugglers. 

     

    For more information, contact: Geosciences at 860-486-4432/geology@uconn.edu