 | Derek E.G. Briggs |
Derek E.G. Briggs, the Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Geology and Geophysics,
has been named as the next director of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural
History, President Richard C. Levin announced.
T H I S
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Paleontologist named next Peabody director
Briggs, whose five-year term will begin on July 1, is a distinguished paleontologist
whose primary research interest is the preservation and evolutionary significance
of exceptionally preserved fossil biotas. He has written extensively on life
in the Paleozoic era.
A Yale faculty member since 2003, Briggs is currently the curator in charge of
invertebrate paleontology at the Peabody Museum. He has also served as director
of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies since January 2004.
Briggs has been president of the Paleontological Society since 2006, and previously
was president of the Palæontological Association 2002-2004.
His numerous honors include being elected in 1999 as a fellow of the Royal Society,
the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom, and in 2003 as a member
of the Royal Irish Academy. In 2000 he was awarded both the Italian prize for
paleontology (Premio Capo d’Orlando) and the Lyell Medal of the Geological
Society of London. He received the Boyle Medal from the Royal Dublin Society/Irish
Times in 2001.
Except for 2001-2002 when he spent a term as a visiting professor at the University
of Chicago, Briggs previously held posts in the United Kingdom. He was in the
Department of Earth Sciences (formerly Geology) at the University of Bristol
1985-2002, serving as chair 1997-2001, and he was in the Department of Geology
at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, 1977-1985. He earned his
B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of
Cambridge, where he was a research fellow 1974-1977.
In the message announcing Briggs’ appointment, Levin also expressed his “profound
gratitude” to Michael J. Donoghue, who has served as director of the Peabody
Museum for over five years. Donoghue is the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with joint appointments in the School of Forestry & Environmental
Studies and the Department of Geology and Geophysics; he is also curator of botany
at the museum.
“Under his leadership,” said Levin, “the Peabody Museum has
continued to focus on the preservation of the world’s biological and cultural
diversity, as well as its strong commitment to research and world-class collections.
In addition, he and his staff have been extremely successful in their ongoing
public outreach to schoolchildren and other members of the greater New Haven community.”
Briggs will be on leave for the 2008 calendar year, spending time as a Humboldt
Research Awardee at the University of Bonn. Jay Ague, professor and director
of undergraduate studies in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, will serve
as acting director of the Peabody Museum for the 2008 fall semester. Ague is
also curator of mineralogy at the Peabody Museum and senior editor of the American
Journal of Science.
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