Introduction
Derek Ernest Gilmor Briggs (born 10 January 1950) is an Irish palaeontologist and taphonomist based at Yale University. Briggs is one of three palaeontologists, along with Harry Blackmore Whittington and Simon Conway Morris, who were key in the reinterpretation of the fossils of the Burgess Shale. He is the Yale University G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics; former Director, Peabody Museum of Natural History; and presently Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Education
Briggs was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology in 1972. He went on to the University of Cambridge to work under British palaeontologist Harry Blackmore Whittington. He was awarded a PhD in 1976 on Arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, Canada.
Research and Career
While at the University of Cambridge, Briggs worked on the fossils of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia alongside a fellow student Simon Conway Morris, both under the supervision of Harry Whittington, on the exceptionally well-preserved Burgess Shale fauna. The Burgess Shale project subsequently became one of the most celebrated endeavours in the field of palaeontology in the latter half of the 20th century. On 1 July 2008 he took over as Director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. He became the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Yale in 2011.
Briggs's research is on the taphonomy, or preservation, and evolutionary significance of the exceptionally preserved fossil biotas known as Konservat-Lagerstätten – fossil formations that include evidence of faunal soft tissue. His work involves a range of approaches from experimental work on the factors controlling decay and fossilisation, through studies of early diagenetic mineralisation and organic preservation, to field work on a range of fossil occurrences.
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1974–1977 | Postdoctoral research Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| 1977–1985 | Department of Geology, Goldsmiths College, University of London |
| 1985–2002 | Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol (Chair 1997–2001) |
| 2001–2002 | Visiting professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago |
| 2003– | Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and Curator in charge of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University |
| 2004–2007 | Director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies |
| 2008–2014 | Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University |
| 2011– | G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University |
Awards and honours
- 1999 – Fellow of the Royal Society
- 2000 – Premio Capo d'Orlando (Italian prize for palaeontology)
- 2000 — Lyell Medal, Geological Society of London
- 2001 — Boyle Medal, Royal Dublin Society/Irish Times
- 2002–2004 – President, Palaeontological Association
- 2003 – Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy
- 2006–2008 — President, Paleontological Society
- 2008 – Humboldt Research Award
- 2009 – Bownocker Medal, Ohio State University
- 2015 – Paleontological Society Medal
His nomination for election to the Royal Society reads: