Rinchen Barsbold (, Rinchyengiin Barsbold, born December 21, 1935, in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

) is a

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

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 ...

and

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, ...

. He works with the Institute of Geology, at

. He is an expert in

vertebrate 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 ...

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

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

. Barsbold has been instrumental in the discovery and recovery of one of the largest

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 ...

collections in the world. His work has helped to form a more modern understanding of the later stages of dinosaur evolution in

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. Barsbold has had considerable influence on dinosaur paleontology in the Communist world. His scientific work has made him a leading authority on

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

s of the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

, starting with his doctoral dissertation on these dinosaurs. As early as 1983, he noted that in different lineages of theropods, many features previously only known from

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s had evolved in various combinations (Barsbold 1983). He postulated that as a result of this "ornithization", one or several lineages of theropods that happened to acquire the proper combination of such traits went on to evolve into actual birds. Since the identification of a number of

feathered dinosaurs A feathered dinosaur is any species of dinosaur possessing feathers. That includes all species of birds, and in recent decades evidence has accumulated that many non-avian dinosaur species also possessed feathers in some shape or form. The exte ...

beginning in the late 1990s, Barsbold's ideas have been more fully appreciated. When he initially published his conclusions - a list of generally rather obscure

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

features - in 1983, there was little exchange between the Mongolian scientific community and that of Western countries. Moreover, his early papers were usually published in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, in which few Western scientists are fluent. In addition,

Evgeny Kurochkin Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kurochkin (Евгений Николаевич Курочкин; 12 July 1940 - 13 December 2011) was a Russian paleornithologist at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He served as President of ...

- a leading specialist on bird paleontology in the Soviet sphere - was critical of the theropod-bird link, working with and teaching mostly

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

bird paleontology. Therefore, Barsbold's theories initially had more impact among paleontologists in Mongolia, the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and allied countries. He is the son of scientist and writer Byambyn Rinchen.

Dinosaur identification

'' Barsboldia'' ( Maryanska and Osmolska, 1981) is named after him. The dinosaur

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

and

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

named by Barsbold are, in alphabetical order: * '' Adasaurus'' (1983) * '' Anserimimus'' (1988) * ''

Conchoraptor ''Conchoraptor'' (meaning "conch plunderer") is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 70 million years ago. It is known from the Barun Goyot and Nemegt Formation, Nemegt formations of Mongolia ...

'' (1986) * the family Enigmosauridae (1983) (now synonymous with Therizinosauridae) * '' Enigmosaurus'' (with A. Perle, 1983) * '' Gallimimus'' (with H. Osmólska and E. Roniewicz, 1972) * '' Garudimimus'' and the family Garudimimidae (1981) * '' Harpymimus'' and the family Harpymimidae (with A. Perle, 1984) * "Ingenia" (1981) (occupied, now '' Heyuannia yanshini'') * the subfamily Ingeniinae (1981) (now synonymous with Heyuaniinae) * the family

Oviraptoridae Oviraptoridae is a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous maniraptoran dinosaurs. Oviraptorids are characterized by their toothless, parrot-like beaks and, in some cases, elaborate crests. They were generally small, measuring between one ...

(1976) * the suborder Segnosauria (with A. Perle, 1980) (now synonymous with Therizinosauria)

References

* Barsbold, Rinchen (1983): O ptich'ikh chertakh v stroyenii khishchnykh dinozavrov. Avian" features in the morphology of predatory dinosaurs ''Transactions of the Joint Soviet Mongolian Paleontological Expedition'' 24: 96-103. riginal article in Russian.Translated by W. Robert Welsh, copy provided by Kenneth Carpenter and converted by Matthew Carrano
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barsbold, Rinchen 1935 births Living people Mongolian paleontologists Mongolian geologists Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences People from Ulaanbaatar