ML137988
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Michael Novacek. Timecode In: 00:00:05. Timecode out: 00:33:27. Notes: Roy Chapman Andrews; Paleontology. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Dual-Channel Mono. Radio Expeditions Michael Novacek/ Don Smith Interview December 18, 1998 DS 00:02:38 Tell us what you do.00:02:41 MN 00:02:42 Ok, my name is Michael Novacek I'm vertebrate paleontologist and also the provost at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and among other things I've led the museums more recent fossil expeditions to the Gobi, since 1990. DS 00:03:05 What is your connection with Roy Chapman Andrews? 00:03:11 MN 00:03:12 In a sense, in a very emphatic way we followed in his footsteps because Roy Chapman Andrews and his expeditions left Mongolia and China at the end of the 1920's and never returned and we were the first expedition to return to the Gobi, from any Western country, in more than 60 years. We were invited back by the Mongolians in 1990 soon after they declared their independence from the decaying Russian empire, the Soviet empire. DS 00:03:48 Why was it so difficult to get back in? 00:03:49 MN 00:03:50 Well, it was primarily a problem with politics, the Soviets had sort of closed the place down. There were Polish scientists working there as well as Soviet scientists working with Mongolians but basically they shut out work from Western countries during those intervening decades. DS 00:04:10 Andrews died in 1960. Did you ever meet him? 00:04:12 MN 00:04:13 I never met Roy Chapman Andrews no, because by the time I was off into my career in paleontology Andrews was already, had already died. I didn't really launch into my area, decide a field until the mid 70's. DS 00:04:39 From your reading about him, what sort of man do you suppose he was? 00:04:43 MN 00:04:44 He was a flamboyant fellow I think. He had a gift for looking, identifying the riskier and perhaps, the more audacious explorations and enterprises. He was a hard working fellow that didn't have the strong kind of academic background that many scientists do. He really worked his way up in the ranks at the American Museum, starting by polishing floors and tables and then going to the beach and flinsing out whales that had been beached, doing all kinds of odd jobs and he sort of established himself as a hard worker and later as a leader, through his work in the museum. DS 00:05:35 He really looked the part of an explorer didn't he? 00:05:38 MN 00:05:39 He was quite a dashing looking fellow, hat and all, very neatly dressed. We look like real slobs compared to him, looking at pictures of our more recent expeditions with long hair and shorts and so forth. He doesn't seem like he had even a wrinkle in his shirt, even in the worst sand storm in the Gobi. DS 00:06:03 Is he an Indiana Jones role model? 00:06:07 MN 00:06:07 It's been said that he was basically the inspiration for Indiana Jones. There are a lot of parallels. It's not clear that the makers of the movie endorse this but clearly, it certainly seems to be a real person that has a lot of the Indiana Jones persona. A good example of that is that he was an expert horseman and an expert marksman. Indeed, he shot and probably killed a couple bandits near the Chinese Mongolian border during one of the early expeditions. DS 00:06:46 He was a good story teller too.00:06:47 MN 00:06:48 He was quite a storyteller and this is apparent from the books he wrote which were very popular, including children's books about dinosaurs. In fact the first book that I ever really took to and really loved was a book called all about dinosaurs that he wrote about the Gobi expeditions and other things. Even his more lengthy treatise on the Gobi expedition is good reading it's very, it reads like a real narrative, like a real story. DS 00:07:19 Did h... (Notes truncated)
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- 18 Nov 2008 - Ben Brotman
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- 18 Nov 2008 - Ben Brotman
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- 18 Nov 2008 - Ben Brotman