The famous paleontologist Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago (UC) visited Shadong University (SDU) from March 10th to 24th. During the visit, Prof. Sereno continued his research on dinosaur fossils at Pingyi and Zhucheng, both located in Shandong Province.

On March 23th, Prof. Sereno was employed as the Lecture Professor of SDU, and took part in the “Master Forum” with a great lecture named as “Paleontology as Art and History”. Fan Liming and Lou Hongxiang, both the Vice-president of SDU, attended the part of the activities. Fang Hui, the Curator of SDU Museum, presented over the lecture.

Before the lecture, Lou awarded a certificate to Paul Sereno officially recognizing him as a lecture professor at SDU. Lou expressed his great wish for the further interaction and cooperation between SDU and UC through the UChicago-Shanda American Culture Exchange Project, especially through Prof. Sereno’s research at Pingyi and Zhucheng.

In his lecture, Prof. Sereno introduced the great fossil collections of the Tianyu Museum at Ping Yi, and interpreted the scientific value of them based on his own research.

Based on his lifetime of excavation and adventure, he shared with the audience his wonderful experiences of discovering dinosaurs in several counties in Africa，Americas and Asia. In the hands of Prof. Sereno, with solid scientific background and artistic creation, static pieces of dinosaur fossils become fascinating, “alive” dinosaurs.

The lecture deepened the audience`s knowledge about paleontology, especially dinosaur research, and excited their interest in discovering the nature and the unknown world. Prof. Sereno answered the questions from the audience after the lecture.

Paul Sereno is an authority in paleontology, in which the University of Chicago is at the top of the field in the world. Prof. Paul Sereno enjoys a wide range of research interests and specifically has achievements in the fields of dinosaurs, origin of birds, paleoanthropology, and archaeology. He has discovered dozens of new dinosaur species and prehistoric archaeological sites in several continents, with over 20 papers published in top level academic journals such as Science and Nature.

Written by: Wang Di

Photo by: Wang Di

Edited by: Ben Hammer, Jing Zizhao

Source: Museum of Shandong University,www.view.sdu.edu.cn