The University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) is a

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 ...

museum located on the campus of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. The museum is within the Valley Life Sciences Building (VLSB), designed by George W. Kelham and completed in 1930. Its collections are primarily intended for research and are, thus, not accessible to the public. A limited number of fossils from the collection is on display in the VLSB. Although located on the Berkeley campus, the museum is the primary locality for storing fossils collected statewide. The original fossils, around which the current collection has grown, were those gathered as part of the

California Geological Survey The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geology, geologic agency. History Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to ...

from 1860 to 1867.

Website

UCMP was one of the first museums to have its own

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

in the early 1990s, due to its location within a technology-oriented university with a good

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

connection. The site has been applauded for its use of visually appealing graphics, was nominated for a Webby Award five times, and received a medal from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. It also had a cameo appearance in the movie '' Deep Impact'', albeit under an incorrect name.

Notable figures

Annie Montague Alexander was the first benefactor of the museum, and led some early expeditions.

Faculty

Many notable paleontologists have worked as staff at UCMP. Dates given after each name indicate when the person was part of the university faculty or working in the museum. * John C. Merriam (1869–1945) * Charles Lewis Camp (1921-1975) * William Diller Matthew (1927–1930) * Ruben Arthur Stirton (1930–1966) * Samuel Paul Welles (1940–1997)

Directors

# Bruce L. Clark (1880-1945) # William Diller Matthew (1871-1930) # Charles Lewis Camp (1893-1975) # Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966) # Donald E. Savage (1917-1999) # Joseph T. Gregory (1914-2007) # William B. N. Berry # William A. Clemens Jr. # Jere H. Lipps # David R. Lindberg # Roy L. Caldwell # Charles R. Marshall

References

External links