Two world-renowned palaeontologists will present this year’s Somerville Lecture at the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum.
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In their investigations of vertebrate palaeontology in Australia, Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich and Dr Thomas Rich have accumulated an extraordinary record of life from the age of dinosaurs in Australia ranging from dinosaurs to mammals.
Experts say this has completely revised the world’s understanding of Mesozoic life at high latitudes.
The museum’s public programs officer Penny Packham said the Somerville Lecture will have a different feel this year as it takes the form of a late afternoon event.
The talk will get underway at 4.30pm on Saturday, July 12.
Earlier in the afternoon there will be a talk by Peter Trusler, who has a new exhibition, Upstream/Downstream, opening that weekend.
Mr Trusler is an Australian artist known for his scientifically rigorous reconstructions of prehistoric fauna.
He has contributed to much of the original research within the field of palaeontology, due to his work in illustrating fossil specimens and through reconstructions of extinct organisms.
Mr Trusler will talk about his work bringing dinosaurs to life.
Another feature of what should be an interesting few days at the museum will be a torchlight tour on Thursday, July 10 from 7pm.
Ms Packham said this event is open to both children and adults and is always very popular.
“Some minerals you can’t really see in the daylight, so having the opportunity to do this is very special,” she said.
“Even I notice things I’ve never seen before.”
Ms Packham said Professor Vickers-Rich is director of the Monash Science Centre at Monash University.
She is also a world renowned palaeontologist and geologist.
Her research centres on the origin and evolution of Australasian vertebrates and their environments over the past 400 million years.
Dr Rich trained as a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University, New York.
As a student of Professor Ruben Arthur Stirton, he became aware of the potential in Australia to make fundamental discoveries on this continent about mammalian evolution.
When an opportunity to gain his present position at Museum Victoria arose, he immigrated to Australia to pursue that interest.
Twenty-three years after starting a research program with the goal of acquiring Australian Mesozoic mammals, he finally obtained his first specimen.
Subsequently, another 48 have been found.
