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Stephen A. Czerkas

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Stephen Andrew Czerkas
BornSeptember 19, 1951
Alhambra, California
DiedJanuary 22, 2015 (aged 63)
NationalityAmerican
SpouseSylvia
Scientific career
FieldsPaleontology

Stephen Andrew Czerkas (born September 19, 1951, in Alhambra, California; died January 22, 2015) was an American sculptor and paleontologist. He frequently worked as a contributor to both museums and the motion picture industry, and was later the director and co-founder of The Dinosaur Museum, which purchased the Archaeoraptor fossil chimera.[1][2] His life-sized replicas of dinosaurs, including members of the Deinonychus and Allosaurus genera, were among the first to incorporate accurate feathering and dorsal spines.[3][4]

Life and work

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Sculpture of Allosaurus by Czerkas in Museum für Naturkunde, Münster

Czerkas' sculptural works have been featured in the National Museum of Natural History, the Vienna Museum of Natural History, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, among other museums.[3][5][6][7] In addition, Czerkas contributed to the motion picture industry, notably producing photorealistic sculptures for the 1977 film Planet of Dinosaurs.[8]

He is perhaps best known for his part in the Archaeoraptor controversy, in which Czerkas purchased a part-bird, part-dinosaur specimen for The Dinosaur Museum from a Chinese dealer.[9] This fossil specimen courted a great deal of controversy, after which it was determined that the fossil had been glued together as a composite of multiple species.[10][11][12] This controversy continues to circulate in creationist media sources as a purported example of widespread fraud in the evolutionary sciences.[13][14][15]

Czerkas had a wife, Sylvia. Stephen Czerkas died on January 22, 2015, of liver cancer.[4][16]

References

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  1. ^ "Friday Photos: Dinosaur Museum". National Geographic. 2012-05-18. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  2. ^ "Dinosaur Museum: Art and Feathers, Blanding, Utah". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  3. ^ a b "Why Jurassic Park had it all wrong". Australian Geographic. 2014-07-05. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  4. ^ a b Abdale, Jason R. (2015-01-31). "News: Stephen Czerkas, famous paleo-artist, dies at 63". DINOSAURS AND BARBARIANS. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  5. ^ Laviola, Karen (1986-03-16). "Dinosaur Art Exhibit Brings Behemoths to Life". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  6. ^ "What would a feathered Velociraptor look like? – Flying Dinosaurs". Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  7. ^ "Dinosaurs, Past and Present". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  8. ^ "Stephen Czerkas 1951–2015". William Stout's Journal. 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  9. ^ Sloan, Christopher P. (November 1999). "Feathers for T. rex?". National Geographic. pp. 98–107.
  10. ^ Dalton, Rex (17 February 2000). "Feathers fly over Chinese fossil bird's legality and authenticity". Nature. 403: 689–690.
  11. ^ Simons, Lewis M. (2000). "Archaeoraptor Fossil Trail". National Geographic. pp. 128–132.
  12. ^ Guardian Staff (2000-02-07). "Is it a bird? Is it a dinosaur? No, it's a fake". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  13. ^ "Evolution Fraud and Myths". www.nwcreation.net. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  14. ^ Sibley, Andrew (September 16, 2005). "Feathered dinosaurs and the Disneyfication of palaeontology". Archived from the original on October 30, 2006.
  15. ^ "Second Look Causes Scientist to Reverse Dino-Bird Claim". www.icr.org. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  16. ^ "Stephen Andrew Czerkas, 1951 - 2015". dinosaur-museum.org. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
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