Richard James Butler is a vertebrate palaeontologist at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, where he holds the title of professor of palaeobiology. His research focuses on ornithischian dinosaur evolution,

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

origins, and fossil

tetrapod A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetr ...

macroevolution.

Biography

Butler's undergraduate degree is a BSc in geology from the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

(2002). His Ph.D., in 2007, is from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He then worked at the London Natural History Museum as, first a postdoctoral research assistant (2006–2008), and then a NERC researcher co-investigator (2008–2009). From 2009 through 2011, he held an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the GeoBio-Center, in

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, followed for 2011–2013 as junior research group leader there. He then came to the University of Birmingham, first as a Birmingham Fellow (2013–2015), then a Senior Birmingham Fellow and Academic Keeper of its Lapworth Museum of Geology (2015–2017). In 2017 he was appointed to a personal chair at Birmingham as professor of paleobiology.

Professional work

According to his web page at Birmingham, his interests are: * "Systematics, taxonomy, and anatomy of fossil reptiles, particularly dinosaurs and closely related groups * Terrestrial recovery from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction event * Phanerozoic and Mesozoic diversification patterns among vertebrates, and fossil record quality * Late Palaeozoic–Mesozoic vertebrate biogeography * Body size evolution and its drivers in deep time * Early evolution of the avian respiratory system, and lung ventilation among fossil archosaurs" His most cited papers, according to Google Scholar are: * Butler RJ, Upchurch P, Norman DB. The phylogeny of the ornithischian dinosaurs. ''

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology The ''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'' (Print: , online: ) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of palaeontology published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the British Natural History Museum. , the editor-in-chief is Paul D. Taylor. The ...

''. 2008 Jan 1;6(1):1-4

cited 237 times * Brusatte SL, Nesbitt SJ, Irmis RB, Butler RJ, Benton MJ, Norell MA. The origin and early radiation of dinosaurs. ''

Earth-Science Reviews ''Earth-Science Reviews'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. It covers all aspects of Earth sciences. The editors-in-chief for this journal are A. Chin, C. Doglioni, J.L. Florsheim, M.F.J. Flower, G.R. Foulger, A ...

''. 2010 Jul 1;101(1-2):68-100

cited 204 times * Benson RB, Butler RJ, Lindgren J, Smith AS. Mesozoic marine tetrapod diversity: mass extinctions and temporal heterogeneity in geological megabiases affecting vertebrates. Proceedings of the Royal Society, ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences''. 2009 Nov 18;277(1683):829-3

cited 158 times * Barrett PM, Butler RJ, Edwards NP, Milner AR. Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. ''Zitteliana:An Internal Journal of Paleontology and Geology.'' (University of Zurich) 2008:61-107

cited 126 times

Awards

He has received The President's Medal from the

Palaeontological Association The Palaeontological Association (PalAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1957 for the promotion of the study of palaeontology and its allied sciences. Publications The Association publishes two main journals ...

in 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Richard J. Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the University of Cambridge Living people Paleobiologists Year of birth missing (living people)