Professor Michael Archer AM, FAA, Dist FRSN (born 1945,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

) is an Australian

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 ...

specialising in Australian

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. He is a professor at the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences,

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. His previous appointments include Director of the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

1999–2004 and Dean of

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

at the

2004–2009.

Education and career

Archer was born in Sydney but raised in the United States and studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. From 1972 to 1978, he was the

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

at the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum Kurilpa is the state museum of Queensland, funded by the government, and dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museu ...

. Since 1983, he has been involved with the exploration of the Riversleigh

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 ...

site in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. He is opposed to

creationism Creationism is the faith, religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of Creation myth, divine creation, and is often Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific.#Gunn 2004, Gun ...

and regularly engages in active debates with creationists. During his time as director of the Australian Museum, he was the initiator of attempts to clone the '' Thylacinus cynocephalus'', the Tasmanian tiger, an animal extinct since 1936. Archer has stated that he is obsessed with bringing the

thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

back to life via cloning. He has said that his obsession is going to push the research further and further until he and his team will have their first living thylacine clone. In 2011, Archer published an article asserting that a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

diet causes more suffering and deaths of animals than an

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

diet based on sustainable husbandry. Archer is married to the paleontologist Suzanne Hand, with whom he has two daughters.

Honours

*1984:

Clarke Medal The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences. The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Branwh ...

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

*1987: Inaugural

Medal for Research *1989: Australian Heritage Award for Nature Conservation *1990: Inaugural Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science *1990: Inaugural IBM Conservation Award for Research *1994: Mueller Medal, ANZAAS *1996: Verco Medal,

Royal Society of South Australia The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in re ...

*1998: Australian Skeptic of the Year *2002: Fellow,

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

(FAA) *2008: Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) *2009: Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales (FRSN) *2019: Romer-Simpson Medal of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and activities SVP has about 2,300 members inte ...

(USA)Carroll, Lucy (15 Oct 2019
Society awards top honour to UNSW palaeontologist
''Newsroom''. University of New South Wales

Publications

* Archer, M. (Ed.) (1982). ''Carnivorous Marsupials''.

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (RZSNSW) was formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1879 as the New South Wales Zoological Society. A Royal Charter was granted in September, 1908, leading to a change to the current name ...

, 1982. (2 volumes) * Archer, M. and Clayton, C. (Eds.) (1984). ''Vertebrate Zoogeography & Evolution in Australasia: Animals in Space & Time''. Hesperian Press. * Archer, M. and Flannery, T.F. with Grigg, G.C. (1985) ''The Kangaroo''. Kevin Weldon Press. * Archer, M., Hand, S. and Godthelp, H. (1986). ''Uncovering Australia's Dreamtime''. Surrey Beatty & Sons * Archer, M. (Ed.) (1987). ''Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution''. Surrey Beatty & Sons in association with the

. * Cronin, L. (Ed.) (1987). ''Koala: Australia's Endearing Marsupial''. Reed Books Pty, Ltd. (text by Archer et al.) * Long, J.A., Archer, M., Flannery, T. and Hand, S. (2002). ''Prehistoric mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One hundred million years of evolution''. University of NSW Press. * Archer, M., Hand, S. and Godthelp, H. (2000). ''Australia's lost world: Prehistoric animals of Riversleigh''. Indiana University Press. *

References

External links

Professor Michael Archer
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences,

. Retrieved September 26, 2018 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Mike Living people 1945 births Scientists from Sydney Princeton University alumni Members of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales