Richard Fortey on fossils

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2014

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Richard Fortey found his first trilobite fossil when he was 14 years old and he spent the rest of his career discovering hundreds more, previously unknown to science. Professor of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, he talks to Jim Al-Khalili about why these arthropods, joint-legged creatures which look a bit like woodlice and roamed the ancient oceans for almost 300 million years, are so important for helping us to understand the evolution of life on our planet. These new trilobite fossils were found at an exciting time for the earth sciences because of the emergence of plate tectonics. The discovery of communities of trilobite fossils could be used to reconstruct the shape of the ancient world and Richard used the new discoveries to help map the geologically very different Palaeozoic continents and seas. He admits that he's a born naturalist, fascinated by all aspects of the natural world (he's a leading expert on fungi) with a powerful drive to communicate its wonders to a wider public. His books and TV programmes on geology, the evolution of the earth, fossils as well as the creatures that survived mass extinctions have brought him a whole new audience. And Richard reveals to Jim an earlier secret life, as a writer of humorous books, all written under a pseudonym.

Transcript

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0:43.6	My guest today is a paleontologist who admits he's slightly resentful of the grip that
0:48.6	dinosaurs have on the public imagination.
0:51.1	Yes, T-Rex is cool, but Richard 40 has run a lifelong campaign to
0:56.2	get trilobites, creatures that superficially look a bit like woodlice and roam the
1:00.4	ancient seas for almost 300 million years up there under the bright lights.
1:05.6	A fellow of the Royal Society and a professor at the Natural History Museum in London for
1:09.7	more than 40 years, he's a serious scientist who's discovered scores of new species,
1:14.4	helped to classify trilobites and other ancient fossils like graptolites, and played a
1:20.1	pioneering role linking the evolution of tril trialabytes to the then emerging field of plate tectonics.
1:26.4	Many of you will also know him as the archetypal chinos and braces wearing paleontology Professor, authoritatively presenting BBC TV programs on
1:36.1	fossils, rock pools, evolution and fungi, and as the author of many popular science books about the natural world.
1:44.0	Professor Richard Forti, welcome to the life scientific.
	...

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