Rate My Professor John Horner

John R. Horner is Regents Professor of Paleontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University, a position aligned with geoscience disciplines, and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies. He studied geology and paleontology at the University of Montana, receiving an honorary Doctorate of Science there in 1986 and another honorary doctorate from Pennsylvania State University in 2006. Horner's research focuses on dinosaur evolution and ecology, with particular emphasis on growth and behavior. He directs the largest paleontological field program in the country, houses one of the largest dinosaur collections in the nation at the Museum of the Rockies, and maintains specialized laboratories for cellular and molecular paleontology as well as 3D imaging using CT and 3D scanners. His graduate students, including those he chairs committees for, have full access to these resources and are encouraged to participate in summer field work.

Horner's career began as a fossil preparator at Princeton University before his long tenure at Montana State University, where he advanced understanding of dinosaur paleobiology through discoveries of eggs, embryos, nests, and juvenile groups, demonstrating parental care in some species akin to modern birds. He co-authored books including Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up (1985), Dinosaur Lives (1997), and Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky (2001), and published extensively in journals such as Science, Nature, and the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Key papers include 'Soft-tissue vessels and cellular preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex' (Science, 2005), 'Gender-specific reproductive tissue in ratites and Tyrannosaurus rex' (Science, 2005), 'Dinosaurian growth rates and bird origins' (Nature, 2001), and 'Age and growth dynamics of Tyrannosaurus rex' (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2004). A 1986 MacArthur Fellow, Horner served as technical advisor for the Jurassic Park film series and mentored numerous paleontologists, profoundly impacting the field of vertebrate paleontology with insights into dinosaur physiology, ontogeny, and evolution.