HGS Night at the Museum Entertains AAPG attendees on April 8
By Linda and Charles Sternbach
A sell-out crowd of 420 enthusiastic geoscientists and friends filled the Morian Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on April 8. The HGS hosted a social evening during the AAPG annual convention on Tuesday night that featured a presentation by famous paleontologist Dr. Robert T. Bakker. Bakker is also Curator of Paleontology at the HMNS science museum. Attendees roamed among the large dinosaur displays of the Paula and Rusty Walter Mesozoic Gallery, enjoyed a buffet dinner and took photos. This was the first time that attendees to an AAPG annual convention, hosted in Houston, had the opportunity to see the dinosaur exhibits, which were created in 2012 under Dr. Bakkers’ supervision. About 200 of the 420 people who came to the Museum were from outside the Gulf Coast area, and many attendees saw the paleontology exhibit for the first time. The AAPG convention brought geoscientists to the social event from England, Mexico, Canada, and even New Zealand. Many participants expressed interest in joining both HGS and the HMNS.
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| Dr Robert T Bakker | Neal Immega |
Dr. Bakker summarized his presentation as a "geo-narrative of the Hall.” Bakker said,” I talked about how we arranged fossils to tell the story of progressive evolution. I researched our own Texas Red Beds (in Seymour, Texas) and found that fin-backed fossils surprise us. Their teeth and jaws got better and better bio-mechanically over time. Texas bones prove that all us Mammalia, the hairy-warm-blooded-milk-producing Class, came from very early land reptiles of the greater Dimetrodon clan".
Geoscientists can keep up with Dr. Bakker’s research at the Museum “Beyond Bones” blog at:
https://blog.hmns.org/category/paleontology/
Many participants were able to meet Dr. Bakker and get his books personally autographed. These included his new “Golden Book of Dinosaurs” and his classic 1986 book, “Dinosaur Heresies,” both of which are also available as hardcopy from book sellers.
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| McArdle (center) |
The evening was made possible by a generous donation by Rusty and Paula Walter, and Walter Oil and Gas. Special thanks are due to Mike Jobe, past HGS board member and employee at Walter Oil and Gas for coordinating funding. In addition, generous support from Exxon Mobil, and Talos Energy, faciliated by John Adamick, further underwrote HGS graduate and undergraduate scholarships.
Many HGS volunteers helped make the HGS Night at the Museum a success. Thanks to Linda and Charles Sternbach who conceived of the event, booked Dr. Bakker,and reserved the date on the HMNS calendar a year and a half ahead of time, with the help of HGS past President Martin Cassidy. Sandy Rushworth and David Risch assembled a volunteer team to check in guests. Inda Immega recruited the Museum “docents”, trained volunteer experts on museum displays, to give presentations to guests. The docents included Neal Immega, Janet Combes, Michael Quintaro, Shirley Smalley, Gretchen Sparks, Richard Spaw and Diane Vitaska. Dawne Jordan coordinated the bus rental for the event. Lucy Plant and Alex Blaque helped with bus arrival and departure from the George R Brown Convention center on the night of April 8. Thanks to David Temple, associated curator of the Museum for arranging Dr. Bakker’s schedule and travel.
Heather McArdle is a Mahopac High School, New York geosciences teacher. Heather is the 2014 AAPG Teacher of the Year, following an award ceremony during theAAPG convention. She attended the HGS Night at the Museum and wrote the following letter: "The exhibits and docents were amazing. We found that our time at the AAPG Conference was exceptional. We've decided to return in the future. The HMNS museum is definitely on the list!”
Thanks to Sponsors Walter Oil and Gas, Exxon and Talos Energy
