David M. Raup

David M. Raup (April 24, 1933 – July 9, 2015) was an American paleontologist at the University of Chicago. He studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Raup was known for his work on big events that changed life on our planet long ago.

Raup worked closely with his colleague Jack Sepkoski. Together, they looked at times when many plants and animals disappeared suddenly from the world. They even suggested that the disappearance of the dinosaurs, which happened 66 million years ago, might have been part of a repeating pattern. According to their idea, big changes in life on Earth could happen every 26 million years.

Because of his important discoveries, Raup helped scientists understand more about how life changes over very long periods of time. His work continues to influence how we think about the history of our planet and all the living things that have ever lived there.

Biography

David M. Raup was born on April 24, 1933, in Boston. At first, he enjoyed activities like skiing and camping rather than studying fossils. His interest in the fossil record grew later with the help of John Clark, a scientist at the University of Chicago.

Raup studied science at Colby College in Maine and later earned his degree at the University of Chicago. He continued his studies at Harvard in geology, focusing on paleontology and biology. He taught at several universities, including Caltech, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Rochester. He also worked at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and helped train scientists to study modern marine life. In 1994, he retired to an island in northern Lake Michigan. He helped scientists at the Santa Fe Institute explore how life evolves. He passed away on July 9, 2015. An asteroid, 9165 Raup, was named to honor his work.

Honors

David M. Raup was recognized for his important work in science. In 1996, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Later, in 2002, he joined the American Philosophical Society for his contributions to understanding life on Earth.

Selected publications

David Raup wrote many important books and articles about fossils and life on Earth. Some of his well-known books include Principles of Paleontology, The Nemesis Affair: A Story of the Death of Dinosaurs and the Ways of Science, and Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?.

He also published many research papers in science journals such as Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These papers talked about topics like patterns in the history of life and events that caused many plants and animals to disappear from the world.