Dr. Kirk Johnson Becomes Museum’s Vice President of Research and Collections and Remains Chief Curator
DENVER—February 21, 2006—Today, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science announced that well-known paleontologist, Kirk Johnson, Ph.D., is the new vice president of research and collections and chief curator for the Museum.
“It is particularly satisfying to be able to promote someone from within the Museum for such an important position,” said George Sparks, President & CEO of the Museum. “I am convinced that Kirk's scientific and public credibility, passion for the Museum, and personal commitment are what we need to make us the best regional nature and science museum in the world.”
Johnson was a curator of paleontology from 1991 to 2001, chair of the Department of Earth Sciences from 2001 to 2004, and chief curator from 2004 to present.
Johnson, 45, is known for his lively and entertaining lectures about his research and travels. He joined the Museum in 1991 after earning his doctorate in geology and paleobotany from Yale University and completing an 18 month research position at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia. His research focus is Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary fossil plants and landscapes of the Rocky Mountain region. He is best known for his research on fossil plants, which is widely accepted as some of the most convincing support for the theory that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Johnson has published many popular and scientific articles on topics ranging from fossil plants and modern rainforests to the ecology of whales and walruses. His research has taken him to Alaska’s Bering Sea, the Brazilian Amazon, the Canadian High Arctic, the rainforests of New Zealand, the Gobi desert, India, Argentina, Egypt, China and the American West. During his tenure at the Museum, he has been instrumental in the planning and construction of several exhibitions including Colossal Fossil Vacation, Ancient Denvers and the Museum’s award-winning exhibition Prehistoric Journey. He also coauthored the books Prehistoric Journey: A History of Life on Earth and Ancient Denvers: Scenes from the Past 300 Million Years of the Colorado Front Range.
For the last 15 years, he has worked with painters and model makers to create accurate and credible paintings, murals, and dioramas of ancient landscapes. He recently collaborated with artist Jan Vriesen to complete a series of ten 8-by-10-foot paintings that depict ancient Colorado landscapes for the new Colorado Convention Center.
Presently, Johnson is focusing on two major research projects, both funded by the National Science Foundation. The first, reported in the journal Science last April, involves the study of fossils from a 50 million-year-old crater lake in Argentina. The second is the ongoing Denver Basin Project, a multidisciplinary effort to understand and interpret the geology, paleontology, and hydrology of the rocks beneath Denver. Excavation for construction projects in the Denver metro area over the last several years has uncovered a variety of spectacular fossils, including the remains of extinct tropical rainforests in Castle Rock, mammoth tusks in Parker, a Triceratops skull in Brighton and the partial skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex in Littleton. The results of Johnson’s research in the Denver Basin have led to a better understanding of the evolution of Colorado’s landscapes and the origin of tropical rainforests.
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Many of the Museum’s educational programs and exhibits are made possible in part by generous funding from the citizens of the seven-county metro area through the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District.
