Alfred Romer

Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 –

November 5, 1973) was an American paleontologist Alfred Romer
ForMemRS
and biologist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution.

Biography
Alfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the
son of Harry Houston Romer and his wife, Evalyn
Sherwood. He was educated at White Plains High
School.[2]

He studied at Amherst College for his Bachelor of

Science Honours degree in biology, then at Columbia
University for an M.Sc. in biology and a doctorate in Alfred Romer in 1965
zoology in 1921. Romer joined the department of Born Alfred Sherwood Romer[1]
geology and paleontology at the University of Chicago December 28, 1894
as an associate professor in 1923. He was an active White Plains, New York
researcher and teacher. His collecting program added Died November 5, 1973 (age 78)
important Paleozoic specimens to Chicago's Walker
Alma mater Amherst College
Museum of Paleontology. In 1934 he was appointed
professor of biology at Harvard University. In 1946, he Columbia University
became director of the Harvard Museum of Awards Mary Clark Thompson Medal
Comparative Zoology (MCZ). Romer was elected to (1954)
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1956)
1937.[3] In 1951, he was elected to the American
Hayden Memorial Geological
Philosophical Society.[4] In 1954 Romer was awarded
the Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Award (1962)

Academy of Sciences, of which he was a member.[5][3] Penrose Medal (1962)

He was awarded the academy's Daniel Giraud Elliot Paleontological Society Medal
Medal in 1956.[6] In 1961, Romer received the Golden (1966)
Plate Award of the American Academy of Foreign Member of the Royal
Achievement.[7] Society (1969)
Linnean Medal (1972)

Evolutionary research Wollaston Medal (1973)

Scientific career
Romer was a keen practical student of vertebrate
Fields Paleontology
evolution. Comparing facts from paleontology,
Institutions Museum of Comparative
comparative anatomy, and embryology, he taught the
Zoology
basic structural and functional changes that happened
during the evolution of fishes to ancestral terrestrial
vertebrates and from these to all other tetrapods. He Thesis The Locomotor Apparatus of
always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the Certain Primitive and Mammal-
relationship between form and function of animals and like Reptiles (https://clio.columbi
their environment. a.edu/catalog/1934261) (1922)
Doctoral William King Gregory
Through his textbook Vertebrate Paleontology, Romer
advisor
laid the foundation for the traditional classification of
vertebrates. He drew together the then widely scattered
taxonomy of the different vertebrate groups and combined them into a single scheme, emphasizing
orderliness and overview. Based on his research into early amphibians, he reorganised the
labyrinthodontians.[8] Romer's classification has been followed by many subsequent authors, notably
Robert L. Carroll, and is still in use.

Namesakes

Taxonomic patronyms
In honor of Alfred Romer, several taxonomic patronyms were given in animals:

Romeriida is the name for a clade that contains the diapsids and their closest relatives.
Romeria is a genus of early captorhinids.
Romeriscus is a genus from the early Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) initially described
as the oldest known amniote,[9] but this is because limnoscelids were, at that time,
considered amniotes by some authors. A subsequent study showed that the fossil lacks
diagnostic characters and can only be assigned to Tetrapoda.[10]
Romerodus is a genus of eugeneodont fish.
Dromomeron romeri is a species of non-dinosaurian dinosauromorph named in July 2007.
The genus name means 'running femur,' and the species name honors the paleontologist, a
key figure in evolution research. The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough
proving dinosaurs and other dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 to 20 million
years."[11][12]

Romer's gap
Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the tetrapods of the Devonian and
the later Carboniferous period, a gap that has borne the name Romer's gap since 1995.[13]

Romerogram
A romerogram, also called spindle diagram, or bubble diagram, is
a diagram popularised by Alfred Romer.[14] It represents
taxonomic diversity (horizontal width) against geological time
(vertical axis) in order to reflect the variation of abundance of
various taxa through time.[15]

Books
A romerogram of the vertebrates at
class level, with the width of
Romer, A.S. 1933. Vertebrate Paleontology. University of spindles indicating number of
Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1945; 3rd ed. 1966)
families.
Romer, A.S. 1933. Man and the Vertebrates. University
of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1937; 3rd ed. 1941;
4th ed., retitled The Vertebrate Story, 1949)
Romer, A.S. 1949. The Vertebrate Body. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia. (2nd ed. 1955; 3rd
ed. 1962; 4th ed. 1970)
Romer, A.S. 1949. The Vertebrate Story. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (4th ed. of
Man and the Vertebrates)
Romer, A.S. 1956. Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Romer, A.S. 1968. Notes and Comments on Vertebrate Paleontology. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.
Romer, A.S. & T.S. Parsons. 1977. The Vertebrate Body. 5th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia.
(6th ed. 1985)

Sources
1. Westoll, T. S.; Parrington, F. R. (1975). "Alfred Sherwood Romer 28 December 1894 -- 5
November 1973". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 21: 496–516.
doi:10.1098/rsbm.1975.0016 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsbm.1975.0016).
S2CID 73207256 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:73207256).
2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (https://
web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biogr
aphical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf) (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-
902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/bi
ographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf) (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
3. "Alfred Sherwood Romer" (https://www.amacad.org/person/alfred-sherwood-romer).
American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
4. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Alfred+Rome
r&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advance
d). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
5. "Mary Clark Thompson Medal" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195631/http://www.na
sonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_thompson). National Academy of
Sciences. Archived from the original (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=
AWARDS_thompson) on December 29, 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
6. "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120801121352/http://nas.nasonl
ine.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot). National Academy of Sciences.
Archived from the original (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS
_elliot) on August 1, 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
 7. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" (https://achievement.or
g/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration). www.achievement.org. American
Academy of Achievement.
8. "Romer, Alfred Sherwood." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Retrieved
May 25, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-
2830905302.html
9. Baird D, Carroll R (1967). "Romeriscus, the oldest known reptile". Science. 157 (3784): 56–
59. Bibcode:1967Sci...157...56B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967Sci...157...56B).
doi:10.1126/science.157.3784.56 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.157.3784.56).
JSTOR 1721645 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1721645). PMID 6026664 (https://pubmed.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov/6026664). S2CID 10481925 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:104819
25).
10. Reisz R, Laurin M (1992). "A reassessment of the Pennsylvanian tetrapod Romeriscus".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 12 (4): 524–527. Bibcode:1992JVPal..12..524L (https://
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992JVPal..12..524L). doi:10.1080/02724634.1992.10011478 (h
ttps://doi.org/10.1080%2F02724634.1992.10011478).
11. Andrew Herrmann (2007-07-20). "Grad student finds 'pre-dinosaur' " (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20081013130218/http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/476588,CST-NWS-predino2
0.article). Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original (http://www.suntimes.com/news/m
etro/476588,CST-NWS-predino20.article) on 2008-10-13.
12. Irmis, R. B.; Nesbitt, S. J.; Padian, K.; Smith, N. D.; Turner, A. H.; Woody, D.; Downs, A.
(2007). "A Late Triassic Dinosauromorph Assemblage from New Mexico and the Rise of
Dinosaurs" (http://doc.rero.ch/record/15342/files/PAL_E2679.pdf) (PDF). Science. 317
(5836): 358–361. Bibcode:2007Sci...317..358I (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007Sci...
317..358I). doi:10.1126/science.1143325 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1143325).
PMID 17641198 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17641198). S2CID 6050601 (https://api.s
emanticscholar.org/CorpusID:6050601).
13. Ward, P.; Labandeira, C.; Laurin, M.; Berner, R. A. (2006). "Confirmation of Romer's Gap as
a low oxygen interval constraining the timing of initial arthropod and vertebrate
terrestrialization" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1636538). Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (45): 16818–22. Bibcode:2006PNAS..10316818W
(https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PNAS..10316818W). doi:10.1073/pnas.0607824103
(https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.0607824103). PMC 1636538 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pmc/articles/PMC1636538). PMID 17065318 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17065318).
14. "Evolutionary systematics: Spindle Diagrams" (http://palaeos.com/systematics/evolutionary/
spindle_diagram.html). Palaeos.com. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
15. "Trees, Bubbles, and Hooves" (https://3lbmonkeybrain.blogspot.com/2007/11/trees-bubbles-
and-hooves.html). A Three-Pound Monkey Brain — Biology, programming, linguistics,
phylogeny, systematics …. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2019-11-13.

External links
Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Alfred S. Romer (http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/
ROME1894.htm)
NAS Biography of Alfred Romer (https://www.nap.edu/read/576/chapter/11)
Alfred Sherwood Romer (AC 1917) Papers (https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/
2/resources/190) at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alfred_Romer&oldid=1265190162"