Episode 24: Mary Schweitzer, PhD - On Faith and Science

Voices In The Wilderness

Dr. Mary Schweitzer calls in to Voices in the Wilderness to speak about Faith and Science.

At the age of 5 she announced to her brother and his friends that she was going to be a Paleontologist. And then, as she puts it, “Life got in the way.” After a long and winding road, Mary Schweitzer eventually got there. Since receiving her PhD in Biology from Montana State University in 1995 she, along with her mentor and colleague, Jack Horner, have turned the world of Paleontology upside down ushering in a whole new set of tools and a series of firsts.

Currently Dr. Schweitzer is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University and an Associate Researcher for the Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University.

Dr. Schweitzer was the first scientist to identify the gender of a dinosaur, even showing that a T-Rex named Bob, was actually a female and pregnant at the time of her demise. Dr. Schweitzer was also the first to identify and isolate soft tissue in an ancient fossil bone. Her work has ushered in the first real change in Paleontology in the last 300 years, her techniques are as ground-breaking as her presence and inspiration have been in smashing the glass ceiling for women in that field. Her influence has led to the developing field of Paleoproteomics, where Dr. Schweitzer has also discovered that iron particles may play a part in the preservation of soft tissue over geologic time.All in all, there’s something about Mary.

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