Mary L. Droser is an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

. She is known for her work in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, including the discovery of several

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s to which she had naming rights. , she is part of a team preparing the nomination of the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...

as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Early life and education

Droser says that spending summers with her family on

Shelter Island, New York Shelter Island is an island Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in eastern Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, near the eastern end of Long Island. The population was 3,253 at the time ...

first inspired her interest in the natural world. She says, "At age 5 I announced I wanted to be a

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

, then by age 10 I’d decided to become a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

". She pursued geology at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

and

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, and went on to obtain a PhD in

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Career

Droser has been travelling to the Flinders Ranges since around 2001, first with her young family, to study the

Ediacaran The Ediacaran ( ) is a geological period of the Neoproterozoic geologic era, Era that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period at 635 Million years ago, Mya to the beginning of the Cambrian Period at 538.8 Mya. It is the last ...

fossils on what was Nilpena Station (on land that was then part of a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

, now part of

Nilpena Ediacara National Park __NOTOC__ Nilpena Ediacara National Park, which includes the former Ediacara Conservation Park, is a protected area located in the northern Flinders Ranges, in the state of South Australia. It is located about around north of Adelaide city cent ...

Discoveries and naming

In 2008, Droser's discovery of the

'' Funisia dorothea'' in Australia was published in the journal ''Science''. ''Funisia'' is a single-species genus of upright worm-like animals that lived 555 million years ago. ''Funisia'' was hailed as the first known species to sexually reproduce. She named the species to honor her mother, Dorothy Droser, saying "She's come with me on digs and done all the cooking and taken care of the kids. It seemed the right thing to do." Droser named the fossil ''

Obamus ''Obamus coronatus'' is a torus-shaped Ediacaran fossil from the Rawnsley Quartzite of South Australia named in honor of former American President Barack Obama by the lab of Mary L. Droser. Morphology The fossils show a multi-ridged body embedde ...

'', after U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. In 2018, while exploring the

, over north of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Droser's team found the 550-million-year-old fossil. She explained that the creature resembled an ear, a distinctive feature of Obama, and so named it for the former president. On the same trip to the Flinders Ranges in 2018, the team also discovered the fossil '' Attenborites janeae'', which Droser named for naturalist Sir

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

Other activities

, Droser is part of a team acting on behalf of the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

and the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the Flinders Ranges, the Adnyamathanha people, to lodge the nomination for the Flinders Ranges as a

. Research done by her, along with

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

palaeontologist Diego Garcia-Bellido, will be submitted as part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage nomination, which will be voted on in 2026.

Awards and honors

* 1997:

Charles Schuchert Award The Charles Schuchert Award is presented by the Paleontological Society to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology. The award was made in honor of Charles Schuchert (1858 – 1942), an Americ ...

given by the

Paleontological Society The Paleontological Society, formerly the Paleontological Society of America, is an international organisation devoted to the promotion of paleontology. The Society was founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was incorporated in April 1968 in ...

to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology * 2020: Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentor Award from

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

* 2022:

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Award in Early Earth and Life Sciences -

Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal is an award presented by the National Academy of Sciences every five years to promote research and study in the fields of Precambrian and Cambrian life and history. The medal was established and endowed in 1934 by ...

References

External links

UC Riverside Profiles: Mary L Droser
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Droser, Mary L. American paleontologists American women paleontologists 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Southern California alumni