Welcome back to Behind Greatness. In this session we are speaking with Jack Horner from his home in California. Jack is a world renowned Paleontologist – of Jurassic Park fame. He was a reference point for the main character of both the original book and the Jurassic Park movie franchise of Steve Spielberg. Coincidentally (even though we don’t believe in coincidences anymore) we are recording this conversation on June 9th, 2023 - the 30 year anniversary of the release of Jurassic Park. Jack had the fortune of growing up in Montana and at an early age fell in love with dinosaurs. He found his first dinosaur bone at 8 years old and 1st skeleton at 13 years old. We follow him as he describes his ground breaking discovery (and his naming) of the Maiasaura, the running of his own museum, cutting through dinosaur bones to disprove and prove hypotheses and a career digging and training other paleontologists all around the globe. We learn about his connection with George Lucas and his fascinating “dino-chicken” project, the fundamental importance of curiosity and why we can’t lose our need to be amazed.

“Go outside and find something.”

See our conversation with Dr. Vera Tiesler (ep 81) if interested in knowing another world-renowned explorer.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. 

Jack,

Website: www.jackhornersdinosaurs.com

Horner Science Group: www.hornersciencegroup.com

Twitter: @dustydino

TED Talk 2011 - https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_building_a_dinosaur_from_a_chicken?language=en

TED Talk 2014 - https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_where_are_the_baby_dinosaurs?language=en