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[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"40401","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","alt":"Gorgosaurus Phil quote"}}]]By Dallas Evans, Lead Curator of Natural Science and Paleontology
The museum’s large predatory dinosaur Gorgosaurus will make its first appearance in Europe at The Summer Science Exhibition of the Royal Society in London.
Among scientists, that’s a pretty big deal.
The Royal Society has played a role in some of the most important discoveries in the history of science. It was first created in the 1600s and is the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Its membership has included famous names like Newton, Owen, Plot, Foucault, Planck, Einstein, Schrodinger, and Hawking.
This puts our Gorgosaurus in some great company.
The Summer Science Exhibition was created as a way to highlight some of the most exciting science and technology developments in the UK. Some of that technology is being utilized to take a closer look at prehistoric life.
A cast of the Gorgosaurus will become the centerpiece for an exhibit entitled X-Appeal showing the work of Dr. Phil Manning and his colleagues at the University of Manchester. Phil and his fellow researchers use state of the art imaging techniques to look at “pathologies” or healed injuries that are evident in the fossil bones.
On exhibit will be some of those real bone pathologies of the Gorgosaurus on loan from The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
In the Royal Society exhibit and in his blog Dinosaur CSI, Phil looks at how researchers “help unlock the story of how this dinosaur accumulated so many healed injuries.”
The Children’s Museum values special collaborations—like this one with the University of Manchester—that provide great opportunities to engage ever-broader audiences and to promote scientific research.
