Vistas, Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2005 Page: 11
40 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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The stuff of Jurassic Park, dinosaurs captivate
young and old alike, with the curiosity of mys-
terious, ancient and lost worlds. Pointing to the
incredible value of basic research, this seemingly
esoteric study of bones and fossils portrays how
science for its own sake can have unforeseen
ramifications in human knowledge and activities.
This joining of the Earth's deep history with the
universe's future technology has emerged from
a unique collaboration between Chatterjee and
research partner R.J. Templin. A retired aeronau-
tical engineer living in Ottawa, Canada, Templin
one time served as the head of the Aeronauti-
cal Division of the National Research Council of
Canada, an equivalent of NASA. The two have
combined their respective knowledge about time
and space to precisely calculate how pterosaurs
and birds, which evolved about 225 million years
ago, developed the ability to take flight.
While scientists had established that ptero-
saurs and ancient birds could fly, no one had ever
answered the question about their flight perfor-
mance. Through tedious calculations, computer
simulations and intense research, Chatterjee and
Templin joined their respective knowledge about
animals and flight mechanics to answer the mys-
tery that has lingered in the scientific world for
30 years. Their definitive work, titled "Posture,
Locomotion and Paleoecology of Pterosaurs," has
been published as a special monograph of the
prestigious Geological Society of America. Mem-
bers of an order of flying reptiles with crocodile-
like skulls, but bird-like hollow bones, pterosaurs
became extinct with the dinosaurs 65 million
years ago. In that world, the pterosaurs-the
largest creatures ever to fly-filled the skies; and
birds, descendants of theropods, or the carnivo-
rous dinosaurs, also came onto the scene. The
secret code that joins the past to the future lies
within the evolving design of the wings-those of
birds, pterosaurs and human-built aircraft.
Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs, nor were they
birds. "Pterosaurs could fly like birds, and they
flew above the heads of dinosaurs. Some were
small, like a modern sparrow, and some were
large, like an F-16 plane. These animals are very
enigmatic because they are extinct and we have
no modern animals with which to compare. Ptero-
saurs seem to be half bat, half bird, but actually
they are reptiles," Chatterjee explains. "The familyADMINISTRATORS DAVID DEAN AND GARY ESON ADMIRE THE COMPLETION OF
CHATTERJEE'S LONGTIME DREAM OF A PERMANENT DIS A E
MUSEUM OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY.DNSU EXHIBIT A Hof birds with dinosaurs brings a new twist in the extinction debate. The
similar anatomy suggests that birds and dinosaurs are closely related and
they shared a common ancestry. Currently, birds are considered living
dinosaurs, the direct descendents of theropods. If so, dinosaurs did not
die out completely. While it is true that all the terrestrial forms are gone
forever, one group of dinosaurs escaped this catastrophe. They are still
around us-flying, hopping, perching, singing and nesting. They inspired
us to fly and to invent the airplane. We call them birds."
In Chatterjee's laboratory, a reconstructed skeleton of one of his semi-
nal bird finds from Antarctica, Polarornis, from the last days of dinosaurs,
delicately hangs in the air, surrounded by cabinets full of archived fossil
finds, carefully arranged casts of bones, and hunks of rocks that hold the
ancient forms within. All precious materials from across the continents,
these treasures hold secrets that explicate Chatterjee's paleontological
journeys as well as those of his predecessor at Texas Tech, the late sci-
entist F. Alton Wade (1903-1978). A pioneer for his work in Antarctica,
Wade left a legacy in creating a collection of amazing and rare artifacts
that lured Chatterjee to Texas Tech.
Born in Calcutta, Chatterjee felt compelled to study the continental
relationship between his native homeland of India and Antarctica, which
long ago were joined together. He earned three degrees, including his
doctorate, with honors in the field of geology while he attended Jadavpur
and Calcutta universities. During his university education, Chatterjee met
a British paleontologist, Pamela Robinson, Ph.D., of London University,
who invited him to join her in working in the lush Godavari Valley in
southeastern India. "In that first year, I found many fossils, including
the world's first full skeletons of the short-legged, beaked rhynchosours,"
Chatterjee smiles, noting that after that first experience, he became a
fanatic for finding fossils. Chatterjee spent a year at London University
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Texas Tech University. Vistas, Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2005, periodical, Spring 2005; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1115332/m1/13/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.