Derek Briggs Explained

Derek Briggs
Birth Name:Derek Ernest Gilmor Briggs
Birth Date:10 January 1950[1]
Birth Place:Ireland
Nationality:Irish
Field:Paleontology
Doctoral Advisor:Harry Whittington
Thesis Url:http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=6452
Thesis Title:Arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, Canada
Thesis Year:1976

Derek Ernest Gilmor Briggs (born 10 January 1950) is an Irish palaeontologist and taphonomist based at Yale University.[1] Briggs is one of three palaeontologists, along with Harry Blackmore Whittington and Simon Conway Morris, who were key in the reinterpretation of the fossils of the Burgess Shale. He is the Yale University G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and former Director of the Peabody Museum.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Education

Briggs was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology in 1972. He went on to the University of Cambridge to work under British palaeontologist Harry Blackmore Whittington.[12] He was awarded a PhD in 1976 on Arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, Canada.[13]

Research and career

While at the University of Cambridge, Briggs worked on the fossils of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia alongside a fellow student Simon Conway Morris, both under the supervision of Harry Whittington, on the exceptionally well-preserved Burgess Shale fauna.[14] The Burgess Shale project subsequently became one of the most celebrated endeavours in the field of palaeontology in the latter half of the 20th century. On 1 July 2008 he took over as Director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.[15] [16] He became the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Yale in 2011.[17]

Briggs's research is on the taphonomy, or preservation, and evolutionary significance of the exceptionally preserved fossil biotas known as Konservat-Lagerstätten – fossil formations that include evidence of faunal soft tissue. His work involves a range of approaches from experimental work on the factors controlling decay and fossilisation, through studies of early diagenetic mineralisation and organic preservation, to field work on a range of fossil occurrences.[18] [19] [20] [21]

Date Position
1974–1977 Postdoctoral research Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
1977–1985 Department of Geology, Goldsmiths College, University of London
1985–2002 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol (Chair 1997–2001)
2001–2002 Visiting professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
2003– Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and Curator in charge of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University
2004–2007 Director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies
2008–2014 Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University
2011– G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University

Awards and honours

His nomination for election to the Royal Society reads:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BRIGGS, Prof. Derek Ernest Gilmor . Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press .
  2. Web site: Curriculum vitae: Derek E.G. Briggs. 2016 . people.earth.yale.edu . Yale University. 6 April 2016.
  3. 10.1038/509428a. Adolf Seilacher (1925–2014) Palaeontologist who pioneered analysis of trace fossils. Nature. 509. 7501. 428. 2014. Briggs . Derek E. G. . Derek Briggs. 2014Natur.509..428B . 24848054 . free.
  4. 10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.144746. The role of decay and mineralization in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 31. 275–301. 2003. Briggs . D. E. G. . 31. Derek Briggs. 2003AREPS..31..275B .
  5. 10.1126/science.259.5100.1439. 17801278. Fossilization of Soft Tissue in the Laboratory. Science. 259. 5100. 1439–42. 1993. Briggs . D. E. G.. Kear . A. J.. 1993Sci...259.1439B . 43188896.
  6. 10.1126/science.256.5064.1670. 17841089. Morphological Disparity in the Cambrian. Science. 256. 5064. 1670–3. 1992. Briggs . D. E. G.. Fortey . R. A.. Richard Fortey. Wills . M. A.. 1992Sci...256.1670B .
  7. 10.1126/science.276.5318.1541. Preservation of Chitin in 25-Million-Year-Old Fossils. Science. 276. 5318. 1541–1543. 1997. Stankiewicz . B. A..
  8. 17839017. 1989. Briggs. D. E.. The early radiation and relationships of the major arthropod groups. Science. 246. 4927. 241–3. Fortey. R. A.. 10.1126/science.246.4927.241. 1989Sci...246..241B . 35322293.
  9. P. J.. Briggs. Kearns . D. E. G. . S. L. . Cambrian Burgess Shale Animals Replicated in Clay Minerals. Orr . Science . 281. 5380 . 1173–1175 . 1998. 9712577 . 10.1126/science.281.5380.1173. 1998Sci...281.1173O .
  10. Briggs . D. E. G. . Molecular taphonomy of animal and plant cuticles: selective preservation and diagenesis . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 354 . 1379 . 7–17 . 1999 . 10.1098/rstb.1999.0356. 1692454 .
  11. Briggs . D. E. G. . A mosquito's last supper reminds us not to underestimate the fossil record . 10.1073/pnas.1319306110 . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 110 . 46 . 18353–18354 . 2013 . 24187151. 3832008. 2013PNAS..11018353B . free .
  12. Book: Bryson, Bill. A short history of nearly everything. Black Swan. London. 978-1-40909-548-4. 2004. 397.
  13. PhD . Derek Ernest Gilmour. Briggs . Arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, Canada . University of Cambridge . 1976 . Derek Briggs.
  14. Book: Morris, Simon Conway. The Crucible of Creation : the Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals. 1998. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK. 978-0-1985-0256-2. vii.
  15. Web site: Bhushan A. 'Visionary' Briggs to lead, expand Peabody. 27 November 2007. yaledailynews.com . Yale Daily News . 13 July 2013.
  16. Web site: Yale News . Derek Briggs Appointed Next Director of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History . 20 November 2007 . news.yale.edu . Yale University . 13 July 2013.
  17. Web site: Yale News. Derek Briggs is named the Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics . 8 February 2011. news.yale.edu. Yale University. 13 July 2013.
  18. Derek E. G. Briggs, D. H. Erwin, and F. J. Collier. The fossils of the Burgess Shale.
  19. Derek E. G. Briggs, C. Bartels, and G. Brassel. The fossils of the Hunsrück Slate.
  20. Derek E. G. Briggs and Peter R. Crowther, eds. (2003). Palaeobiology II. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. and .
  21. Derek E.G. Briggs, Nicholas H. Barton, Jonathan A. Eisen, David B. Goldstein, and Nipam H. Patel. Evolution.
  22. Web site: Medal and Award Winners List. Palaeontological Association . 29 April 2020.

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