Elizabeth (Betsy) Laura Nicholls (January 31, 1946 – October 18, 2004) was an American-Canadian

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

who specialized in

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

marine reptiles. She was a paleontologist at the

Royal Tyrrell Museum The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (RTMP, and often referred to as the Royal Tyrrell Museum) is a palaeontology museum and research facility in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The museum was named in honour of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, and is situ ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada.

Early life and education

Nicholls was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and received her undergraduate degree in 1968 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and her graduate degrees, an M.Sc. in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1989, from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

, working under

Samuel Paul Welles Samuel Paul Welles (November 9, 1907 – August 6, 1997) was an American palaeontologist. Welles was a research associate at the Museum of Palaeontology, University of California, Berkeley. He took part in excavations at the Placerias Quarry in ...

. Nichollsemys was also named in her honor.

Career

She was the co-editor with American vertebrate paleontologist Jack Murff Callaway of the book ''Ancient Marine Reptiles''. '' Latoplatecarpus nichollsae'' was named in her honor. Nicholls was a 2000 Rolex Awards for Enterprise laureate for exploration for her leadership in excavating the remains of a large ichthyosaur, '' Shonisaurus sikanniensis'' (Nicholls & Manabe, 2004), from the

Upper Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. ...

Pardonet Formation in a remote area of the

Sikanni Chief River The Sikanni Chief River, is a river in the Northern Rocky Mountains region of the northern British Columbia Interior, interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its headwaters are near Mount McCusker, northeast of the head of the Finlay Arm of Williston ...

in British Columbia.

Death and legacy

Nicholls died from cancer in 2004 at age 58. On May 6, 2017 the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre established the Dr. Elizabeth 'Betsy' Nicholls Award for Excellence in Paleontology at its annual Dig Deep Gala. The announcement was made in the presence of Nicholls' husband and children to whom a plaque was given in honour of the occasion.

Selected publications

* Giant ichthyosaurs of the Triassic—a new species of Shonisaurus from the Pardonet Formation (Norian: Late Triassic) of British Columbia, EL Nicholls, M Manabe - ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 2004 * New material of Qianichthyosaurus Li, 1999 (Reptilia, Ichthyosauria) from the Late Triassic of southern China, and implications for the distribution of Triassic icthosaurs, EL Nicholls, C Wei, M Manabe - ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 2003 * New thalattosaurs (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation of Wapiti Lake, British Columbia, EL Nicholls, D Brinkman - ''Journal of Paleontology'', 1993 * New material of Toxochelys latiremis Cope, and a revision of the genus Toxochelys (Testvoines, Chelonioidea), EL Nicholls - ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 1988 * The first record of the mosasaur Hainosaurus (Reptilia: Lacertilia) from North America, EL Nicholls - ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'', 1988 * The oldest known North American occurrence of the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Liassic (Lower Jurassic) Fernie Group, Alberta, Canada, EL Nicholls - ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'', 1976

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Elizabeth Canadian paleontologists Women paleontologists Canadian women scientists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Calgary alumni 1945 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American women scientists People from Oakland, California Paleontology in Alberta 21st-century American women