10 Facts About Mark Norell

Mark Allen Norell was born on July 26,1957 and is an American vertebrate paleontologist.

Mark Norell is currently the chairman of paleontology and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History.

Mark Norell is best known as the discoverer of the first theropod embryo and for the description of feathered dinosaurs.

Mark Norell is both a fellow of the Explorer's Club and the Willi Hennig Society.

Mark Norell's research has encompassed a number of different areas, from the theoretical study of diversity through time, his doctoral dissertation on alligator phylogeny, and his postdoctoral work on evolutionary variations in maize.

Mark Norell became a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in 1990 and helped oversee the renovation of the Halls of Vertebrate Evolution.

Mark Norell has led over twenty international paleontological expeditions, in locales such as Patagonia, Cuba, the Chilean Andes, the Sahara and West Africa.

Mark Norell is the direct discoverer of the enigmatic theropod Shuvuuia, co-led the group that discovered Ukhaa Tolgod, the richest Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate fossil locality in the world, discovered the first embryo of a theropod dinosaur, described a series of dinosaurs with feathers, and discovered the first direct evidence of dinosaur brooding.

Mark Norell has authored several papers that discuss the relationship between stratigraphic position and phylogenetic topology.

In 1998, Mark Norell was named a New York City Leader of the Year by the New York Times.