# Arthur James Boucot > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Arthur_James_Boucot > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Arthur_James_Boucot.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_James_Boucot > Source revision: 1355557423 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American paleontologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Arthur James Boucot | image = Art Boucot Canobla NSW, 2001.jpg | caption = Art Boucot in Australia, 2001 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1924|5|26}} | death_date = {{Death date and age text| 10 April 2017 | 26 May 1924}} | fields = [Paleontology](/source/Paleontology) }} '''Arthur James Boucot''' (May 26, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 10 April 2017, Denver, Colorado) was an American [paleontologist](/source/paleontology), [biostratigrapher](/source/biostratigraphy), and [taphonomist](/source/taphonomy) who was an expert in [Silurian](/source/Silurian) and [Devonian](/source/Devonian) [marine invertebrates](/source/marine_invertebrates), particularly [brachiopod](/source/brachiopod)s.{{Cite web | url=http://paleopolis.rediris.es/BrachNet/ANNONCES/OBITUARIES/Boucot.htm |title = Arthur James Boucot (1924-2017)}} ==Early life== Boucot was born in Philadelphia, and raised in an academic family with early exposure to geology and paleontology. He began his studies at the [University of Pennsylvania](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania) but dropped out in his freshman year to work at [RCA](/source/RCA_Corporation). He was drafted into the [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army) during [WWII](/source/WWII), but enlisted in the [United States Army Air Forces](/source/United_States_Army_Air_Forces) as a navigator with the [Eighth Air Force](/source/Eighth_Air_Force) on [B-24 Bombers](/source/Consolidated_B-24_Liberator), and was awarded the [Distinguished Flying Cross](/source/Distinguished_Flying_Cross_(United_States)).{{cite journal|last1=Talent|first1=John A.|title=Arthur J. ('art') Boucot: Palaeontologic virtuoso and guru|journal=Historical Biology|date=10 January 2009|volume=11|issue=1–4|pages=3–7|doi=10.1080/10292389609380532}}{{cite journal|last1=Dutro|first1=J. Thomas Jr.|title=Presentation of the Paleontological Society Medal to Arthur J. Boucot|journal=Journal of Paleontology|volume=74|issue=4|date=2000|pages=754–755|doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0754:potpsm>2.0.co;2|s2cid=198157158 }} ==Education and academic career== Boucot obtained his geology degrees from [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) with a B.S. in 1948, an MS in 1949, and a PhD in 1953. Although he began his geological studies focused on mineralogy and [petrography](/source/petrography), his interest in paleontology was sparked at Harvard by assistant professor [Preston Cloud](/source/Preston_Cloud), and expert on the [Cambrian Explosion](/source/Cambrian_Explosion). Boucot's dissertation was on the [biostratigraphy](/source/biostratigraphy) of the [Devonian](/source/Devonian) [Moose River Basin](/source/Moose_River_Basin) where it crops out in [Maine](/source/Maine). From 1951 until 1956 he worked at the [United States Geological Survey](/source/United_States_Geological_Survey) where Cloud was Chief of Paleontology and Stratigraphy. At the USGS he did work with [James Brookes Knight](/source/James_Brookes_Knight), an expert in [Paleozoic](/source/Paleozoic) [gastropod](/source/gastropod)s and [G. Arthur Cooper](/source/G._Arthur_Cooper), a leading expert in extant and fossil [brachiopod](/source/brachiopod)s. Boucot left the USGS when he was awarded a [Guggenheim fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_fellowship) for studies in Europe collecting Silurian and Devonian fossils in [Western Europe](/source/Western_Europe). In 1957 he began his academic professional career at the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology). From 1961 to 1968 he taught at [Caltech](/source/Caltech), then spent a year jointly at the [University of Pennsylvania](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania) and the [Smithsonian Institution](/source/Smithsonian_Institution), which houses many of his early letters and papers. In 1969 he began his lengthy career as a professor of geology and, eventually, integrative biology, at [Oregon State University](/source/Oregon_State_University). ==Specializations== Boucot's major publications focus on both North American and global taxonomic studies of Silurian-Devonian invertebrates, primarily brachiopods. In North America Boucot worked largely in New England to publish on the taxonomy of middle [Paleozoic](/source/Paleozoic) brachiopods and create a biogratigraphy of Eastern North American brachiopods. His global field work, including work in Western Europe, Antarctica, and eastern Canada developed large scale taxonomies of Silurian-Devonian brachiopods. His later work, based on collaborative international field work, included publications on paleoecology of middle Paleozoic brachiopods. ==Awards and honors== In 1985, he was awarded the [Raymond C. Moore Medal for Paleontology](/source/Raymond_C._Moore_Medal), and in 1999 the [Paleontological Society Medal](/source/Paleontological_Society_Medal). He has served as president of the [Paleontological Society](/source/Paleontological_Society) in 1980–1981, and president of the [International Palaeontological Association](/source/International_Palaeontological_Association) from 1984–1989, and Vice-President of the [International Commission on Stratigraphy](/source/International_Commission_on_Stratigraphy) from 1986–1989. The Boucot Plateau of the [Geologists Range](/source/Geologists_Range) of [Antarctica](/source/Antarctica) was named by the [Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names](/source/Advisory_Committee_on_Antarctic_Names) for [Arthur J. Boucot](/source/Arthur_J._Boucot) to honor his research for [United States Antarctic Program](/source/United_States_Antarctic_Program) at [Byrd Station](/source/Byrd_Station) and the [Horlick Mountains](/source/Horlick_Mountains) in 1964-65.{{cite gnis|type=antarid|id=1728|name=Boucot Plateau|accessdate=2010-06-09}} ==Books== * {{citation | author=Arthur J. Boucot |title=Evolution and extinction rate controls |year=1975 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-444-41182-2 }} * {{citation |editor=Jane Gray |editor2=Arthur James Boucot |title=Historical biogeography, plate tectonics, and the changing environment: proceedings of the thirty-seventh Annual Biology Colloquium, and selected papers |year=1979 |publisher=Oregon State University Press |isbn=978-0-870-71176-3}} * {{citation |author=Arthur James Boucot |title=Principles of Benthic Marine Paleoecology |isbn=978-0-121-18980-8 |year=1981 |publisher=Academic Press}} * {{citation |author=Arthur J. Boucot |author2=George O. Poinar Jr. |name-list-style=amp |title=Fossil Behavior Compendium |publisher=CRC Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-439-81058-3}} * {{citation |author=Arthur J. Boucot |year=2013 |title=Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution |publisher=Elsevier Science |isbn=978-1-483-29081-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFPgBAAAQBAJ}} == References == {{reflist}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Boucot, Arthur}} Category:1924 births Category:2017 deaths Category:American paleontologists Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:United States Geological Survey personnel Category:Oregon State University faculty Category:Smithsonian Institution people Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Category:Scientists from Philadelphia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Arthur James Boucot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_James_Boucot) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_James_Boucot?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.