RE: PALEONEWS: Maverick dinosaur hunter rewriting the prehistorybooks

[Jeff Hecht <jhecht@world.std.com>]

Luis Oscar Romero wrote:

> The CNN article brings back a sore spot for argentine paleontologists: The
> "finding" of Herrerasaurus, which the media recently is suggesting was found
> to Dr. Sereno, when its holotype was actually found by Reig back in 1960
> (and additional material in 1963) and formally described by him, and been
> studies by many scientists since then, Benedetto (1973), Benton (1990) &
> Novas (1992a, 1992b). No doubt the pieces excavated by Sereno's team (a
> skull, among other things) contributed greatly to the knowledge of this very
> primitive dinosaur, but not enough to grant the merit of its discovery,
> considering the beast was mounted and exhibited in the Museum of the Miguel
> Lillo Foundation at the Tucumán University at a time when Dr. Sereno was
> just a kid.

I wouldn't blame Sereno completely. When I interviewed him over the 
phone after the discovery of Eoraptor (or possibly Herrerasaurus), he 
stressed that the Argentines were the ones who discovered the fossils.

The general press tends to attribute discoveries to the people they 
talk with. That's almost always people in their own countries (I've 
tried to call Argentina, and I've had trouble getting through). It's 
almost always people who speak their languages. When a story passes 
through the hands of editors, the other scientists' names tend to be 
edited out. And when a story runs 100-150 words, there isn't room to 
list more than one or (very rarely) two names.

That's not to say there aren't media hogs, or that many American 
writers give too much credit to other Americans. We need to work 
harder to see that credit goes to the people who do the work, not 
those who have press agents or like to stand in front of cameras. One 
of the blessings of the Internet is that it makes it possible to 
contact scientists on the other side of the planet whose English is 
little better than your Chinese or Spanish and get intelligible 
comments and explanations from them. It's still more work, but it's 
worth it.

By the way, if you have e-mail addresses for Bonaparte and Novas, 
please send them to me off-list.

Jeff Hecht     Boston Correspondent    New Scientist magazine
525 Auburn St.,          Auburndale, MA 02466             USA
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