Ernie Lundelius, a UT professor emeritus of paleontology, co-authored a research paper that was published last year. Lundelius is 98 years old, and the research the paper discussed began more than 70 years ago, in 1955.
Lundelius is a legend in paleontology — at Texas, where he directed UT’s Paleontology Lab for many years, nationally and internationally.
Why did this latest paper take 70 years? Partially because his longtime collaborator Bill Turnbull of the University of Chicago, died during the years-long project. The last chapter of the study of tiny bones found in a remote Australian cave lay fallow for many years.
When Lundelius was well into retirement, his daughter, Jennifer Welch, revived the project by recruiting Steve May, a research associate in the Jackson School of Geosciences, to be coauthor. (Welch, a Texas Ex, is a professor emeritus herself, although of computer science and engineering and at Texas A&M.)
Chris Sagebiel, collections manager of the Paleontology Lab where Lundelius still has an office, says UT is one of the best universities in the world for paleontology, partially due to Lundelius’s nearly lifelong tenure here. In fact, Sagebiel was one of his many hundreds of students.
Lundelius grew up in Austin, and first became interested in paleontology at 8 years old. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree from UT, he went to graduate school in Chicago, where he met Turnbull and more significantly his wife of 70 years, Judith, who edited his research papers, and died only two years ago.
Now a resident of Westminster senior living center — he still has a steady stream of visitors who want to talk science with someone who has been at it close to a century.
For a moving look at UT Professor Emeritus Ernie Lundelius, and the others involved in his 70-year paper, check out the video above.
