Martin Pickford

Martin Hubert Luke Pickford ( born October 18, 1943 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England ) is a British paleontologist and an expert on the biostratigraphy and biogeography of Neogene. Pickford discovered including the first fossil of Orrorin tugenensis, an extinct species of apes, which occurred in the upper Miocene in Kenya and possibly belongs to the sphere of the earliest Hominini. Together with Brigitte Senut he also defined the genus Ugandapithecus, a clade of fossil primates of the early and middle Miocene in Africa. Pickford is a senior lecturer at the Collège de France in Paris.

Life

Martin Pickford spent his youth in Kenya, where he went to primary school in Kitale. He attended the Duke of York School in Nairobi. From 1961 to 1966 he served in the British Army. After completing military service in 1966 he was working for the National Museum of Kenya, where he was employed again after completing his studies.

From 1967 to 1975 Pickford first studied geology and paleontology later, among others; He earned a bachelor's degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax ( Canada) and the doctoral degree at the University of London with a study on Stratigraphy and Palaeoecology of Five Late Cenozoic formations in the Kenya Rift Valley. After working for the National Museum of Kenya from 1978 to 1984 he taught in 1985 at the University of Mainz, but changed the following year to Paris to the Collège de France, where he teaches and conducts research since then.

Martin Pickford is married, the family has two children. In addition to the professional domicile in Paris, the family has resided in Badingham, Suffolk Coastal (England).

Research

Martin Pickford mapped many important paleontological sites, including areas in the Siwaliks in Pakistan, in the Kenyan and Ugandan section of the Rift Valley, in the Namib- Naukluft National Park, Etosha National Park and in Farafra (Egypt). Some areas in Uganda and Namibia, the mapped Pickford, proved Locations of oil and diamond deposits.

Pickford was involved in the discovery of the first fossils of Samburupithecus (1982 in Kenya), Otavipithecus (1991 in Namibia), Kogolepithecus (2007 in Uganda ) and Iriripithecus and Karamojapithecus (2010 in Uganda). A special fund was also in 1974, the first tooth of Orrorin tugenensis and the discovery of additional fossils associated him in 2000.

He applies About Pickfords expertise for the biostratigraphy and biogeography of the Neogene as an expert on fossil African mammals from the Cenozoic, especially for Aardvark ( Orycteropodidae ), Proboscidea ( Proboscidea ), Anthracotheriidae and Chalicotherien and for Old World pigs ( Suidae ), often also called index fossils are used as part of biostratigraphic age determinations.

Pickford leads since 1985, the Uganda Palaeontology Expedition, in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Uganda, the Uganda Museum and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. Since 1991, he also directs the Namibia Palaeontology Expedition, in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Namibia, the Namibian National Monuments Council and the Namdeb Diamond Corporation. He is since 1997 the organizers of the Kenya Palaeontology Expedition, in collaboration with the Community Museums of Kenya, the Orrorin Community Organization and (since 2010) of Egerton University.

The Kipsaraman Community Museum, dedicated to, among others, the discovery of Orrorin tugenensis, Pickford 2002 supported during its construction and in the manufacture of the permanent exhibition. Similarly, in 2010, he made reconstruction aid for the Moroto Museum, which is dedicated to, among others, the discovery of Morotopithecus bishopi. As early as 1992 he had set up a permanent exhibition at the Uganda Museum in Kampala, where numerous fossils discovered in Uganda are kept.

Works (selection)

  • Late Miocene sediments and fossils from the Northern Kenya Rift Valley. In: Nature, vol 256, 1975, pp. 279-284, doi: 10.1038/256279a0
  • Brigitte Senut: Geology and palaeobiology of the Albertine Rift Valley, Uganda - Zaire. Vol 2: Palaeobiology - Paléobiologie. In: Occas. Publ CIFEG, Volume 29, 1994, pp. 1-424
  • Brigitte Senut: Geology and Palaeobiology of the Namib Desert, Southwestern Africa. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia, Volume 18, 1999, pp. 1-155
  • Brigitte Senut et al.: A new genus of Early Miocene hominoid from East Africa: Ugandapithecus major ( Le Gros Clark & ​​Leakey, 1950). In: Les Comptes Rendus Palevol de l' Académie des Sciences de Paris, Volume 331, 2000, pp. 227-233
  • Brigitte Senut et al.: First hominid from the Miocene ( Lukeino Formation, Kenya ). In: Comptes Rendus de l' Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science, Volume 332 ( 2 ), 2001, pp. 137-144, doi: 10.1016/S1251-8050 (01) 01529-4
  • Brigitte Senut (ed.): Geology and Palaeobiology of the Central and Southern Namib, Vol 2: Palaeontology of the Orange River Valley, Namibia. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia, Volume 19, 2003, pp. 1-398
  • Brigitte Senut: Geology and Palaeobiology of the Northern Sperrgebiet: general conclusions and summary. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia, Volume 20, 2008, pp. 555-574
  • Brigitte Senut et al.: Distinctiveness of Ugandapithecus from Proconsul. In: Estudios Geológicos, Volume 65, No. 2, 2009, pp. 183-241, doi: 10.3989/egeol.39926.071
  • Sarah Musalizi, Brigitte Senut et al.: Small apes from the Early Miocene of Napak, Uganda. In: Geo -Pal Uganda, Volume 3, 2010, pp. 1-111; ISSN 2076-5746
Sangiran Halifax Regional Municipality Sivalik Hills Farafra, Egypt Chalicothere Digital Object Identifier WorldCat
553483
de