Date of Birth: June 14th, 1928
Place of Birth: Rosario, Argentina
Parents: ?
Spouse: ?
Date of death: n/a
Place of death: n/a
Legacy: --
José Fernando Bonaparte
J.F.B, the son of an Italian sailor, was born in Rosario, Argentina, and raised in Mercedes, Buenos Aires.
Despite a lack of formal training in paleontology he started collecting fossils at an early age and created a museum in his home town. He later became curator of the National University of Tucuman where he was named Doctor Honoris causa in 1974, and became a senior scientist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s.
He has found and/or named many South American dinosaurs and, according to Peter Dodson from the University of Pennsylvania, "almost single-handedly dragged Argentina to sixth spot in the world dinosaur charts". Funnily enough, he has mentored several paleontologists who have gone on to chip-in with a fair few discoveries of their own, including Rodolfo Coria.
Despite a lack of formal training in paleontology he started collecting fossils at an early age and created a museum in his home town. He later became curator of the National University of Tucuman where he was named Doctor Honoris causa in 1974, and became a senior scientist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s.
He has found and/or named many South American dinosaurs and, according to Peter Dodson from the University of Pennsylvania, "almost single-handedly dragged Argentina to sixth spot in the world dinosaur charts". Funnily enough, he has mentored several paleontologists who have gone on to chip-in with a fair few discoveries of their own, including Rodolfo Coria.
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