Richard S. Laub is a scientist from the United States. He is

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 ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

at the

Buffalo Museum of Science The Buffalo Museum of Science is a science museum located at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Buffalo, New York, United States, northeast of the downtown district, near the Kensington Expressway. The historic building was designed by August E ...

, and directs excavations at the Hiscock Site in

Byron, New York Byron is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. The town is named after a famous poet, Lord Byron. It on the northern border of the county, and lies northeast of the city of Batavia. The population was 2,369 at the 2010 census. The ...

. His work includes development of the hypothesis that

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

led to the extinction of the

mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

Personal life and education

Richard Laub has a bachelor's degree from

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

, a Masters of Science 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 ...

and

paleoecology Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, and a PhD. from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

.Buffalo Museum of Science – Dr Laub
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Work in paleoecology and archaeology

Laub's scientific interests are in paleoecology and archaeology of the Northeastern United States. He is curator of geology at the Buffalo Museum of Science and directs excavations at the Hiscock Site in

. During the course of his work he has demonstrated that giant condors once lived in upstate New York. Richard Laub has also hypothesized that an epidemic of

helped drive the

to extinction. He finds it likely that most late Ice Age mastodon in North America had the disease.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061003-mastodons.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laub, Richard Living people Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni University of Cincinnati alumni American archaeologists Year of birth missing (living people)