Sankar Chatterjee, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Sankar Chatterjee

American Paleontologist

Date of Birth: 28-May-1943

Place of Birth: Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Profession: curator, paleontologist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


Show Famous Birthdays Today, United States

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About Sankar Chatterjee

  • Dr.
  • Sankar Chatterjee is a paleontologist, and is the Paul W.
  • Horn Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University.
  • He earned his Ph.
  • D.
  • from the University of Calcutta in 1970 and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution from 1977-1978.Dr.
  • Chatterjee's has focused on the origin, evolution, functional anatomy, and systematics of Mesozoic vertebrates, including basal archosaurs, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and birds.
  • He has researched Late Triassic reptiles in India, such as phytosaurs, rhynchosaurs, and prolacertiformes.
  • He is best known for his work on vertebrates recovered in the 1980s from the Post Quarry in the Late Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation (Dockum Group) of West Texas.
  • The material includes the large rauisuchian Postosuchus, which was named for the nearby town of Post.
  • It also included controversial specimens Chatterjee identified as being avian (Protoavis).
  • The identification of these specimens as avian would push back the origin of birds by at least 75 million years.In 2008, Chatterjee and Rick Lind designed a 30-inch unmanned aerial vehicle with a large, thin rudder inspired by the crest of Tupandactylus, to be called a Pterodrone. The large, thin rudder-like sail on its head functioned as a sensory organ that acted similarly to a flight computer in a modern-day aircraft and also helped with the animal's turning agility.
  • “These animals take the best parts of bats and birds,” Chatterjee said.
  • “They had the maneuverability of a bat, but could glide like an albatross.
  • Nothing alive today compares to the performance and agility of these animals.
  • They lived for 160 million years, so they were not stupid animals.
  • The skies were darkened by flocks of them.
  • They were the dominant flying animals of their time.” “[W]e’ve found they could actually sail on the wind for very long periods as they flew over the oceans....
  • By raising their wings like sails on a boat, they could use the slightest breeze in the same way a catamaran moves across water.
  • They could take off quickly and fly long distances with little effort.”

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also