1. Michael James Benton was born on 8 April 1956 and is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.
10 Facts About Michael Benton
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Michael Benton's published work has mostly concentrated on the evolution of Triassic reptiles but he has worked on extinction events and faunal changes in the fossil record.
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Michael Benton has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of life, particularly concerning how biodiversity changes through time.
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Michael Benton's work has been published in a variety of journals.
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Michael Benton has advised on many media productions including BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs and was a programme consultant for Paleoworld on Discovery Science.
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Michael Benton contributed to the 2002 BBC programme The Day The Earth Nearly Died, which featured scientists and dealt with the mysteries of the Permian extinction.
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In December 2010, Michael Benton had a rhynchosaur named in his honour.
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Michael Benton founded the Master of Science degree programme in Palaeobiology at Bristol in 1996, from which more than 300 students have graduated.
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Michael Benton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014 for "substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge" and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Michael Benton was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to palaeontology and community engagement.