Jenny Clack

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:EngvarB Template:Infobox scientist Jennifer Alice Clack, Template:Post-nominals (née Agnew; 3 November 1947 – 26 March 2020) was an English palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist. She specialised in the early evolution of tetrapods, specifically studying the "fish to tetrapod" transition: the origin, evolutionary development and radiation of early tetrapods and their relatives among the lobe-finned fishes. She is best known for her book Gaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods, published in 2002 (second edition, 2012) and written with the layperson in mind.

Clack was curator at the Museum of Zoology and Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Cambridge, where she devoted her career to studying the early development of tetrapods, the "four-legged" animals said to have evolved from Devonian lobe-finned fishes and colonised the freshwater swamps of the Carboniferous period.

Early life and education

Clack was born on 3 November 1947, the only child of Ernest and Alice Agnew.<ref name="Who's Who 2015">Template:Cite web</ref> She was brought up in Manchester, England.<ref name="bio - personal website">Template:Cite web</ref> She was educated at Bolton School (Girls' Division), a private school in Bolton, Lancashire. She received a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1970. In 1978, she accepted an invitation from Alec Panchen to obtain a Ph.D. from the same university, at the encouragement of her then new boyfriend Rob Clack. They married in 1980. Her doctorate was completed in 1984. She also held a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester and an MA from the University of Cambridge. On 9 December 2000, she was awarded a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree by the University of Cambridge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Academic career

In 1981, Clack joined the University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, as an Assistant Curator.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /><ref name="bio - personal website" /> She was promoted to Senior Assistant Curator in 1995. Since 2005, she has been Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the museum.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /> In 2006, she was awarded a personal chair by the University of Cambridge, and took the title Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology.<ref name="WWW">Template:Cite web</ref> She retired in 2015 and became Emeritus Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the museum.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1997, Clack was elected a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> since 1 October 2015, she has been an Emeritus Fellow.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 2000 to 2005, she was Reader in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Cambridge.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /> On 1 October 2006, Clack was awarded a personal chair by Cambridge, taking the title Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Clack is best known for her extensive body of work on early tetrapods, much of which redefined how paleontologists conceived of the evolution of limbs and other features associated with tetrapods' transition from other lobe-finned fishes. She began her career working primarily on the ear of early tetrapods<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and later expanded to more broadly addressing the osteology and evolution of tetrapods. Together with Michael Coates (University of Chicago), Clack defined what is known as "Romer's Gap",<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a major gap in the fossil record of early tetrapods and one that she subsequently began to fill in collaboration with other paleontologists. Clack also undertook extensive fieldwork expeditions in order to search for further remains of early tetrapods. In 1987, during an expedition to East Greenland, Clack and her team discovered the remains of the Devonian tetrapods Acanthostega and Ichthyostega, following up on field notes of researchers who had collected material of Acanthostega in 1970.<ref name="Hon DSc - University of Leicester">Template:Cite web</ref> Additional surveys in 1998 led to the collection of substantial new material, including what is now recognized as Ymeria.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Most recently, she led a major consortium project (TW:eed<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) investigating some exciting new fossils from Northumberland and the Borders Region of Scotland which date from the Tournaisian stage of the earliest Carboniferous period; this project has produced numerous publications furthering the understanding of early tetrapod evolution.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Over the course of her lengthy career, Clack published in some of the most notable scientific journals, including Nature,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Science,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and is one of the most published vertebrate paleontologists in Nature, arguably the leading scientific journal in the world, with over 15 papers in that journal alone. In addition to her Gaining Ground book, Clack also co-authored a volume of the Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie series on early tetrapods with Andrew Milner in 2015<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and co-edited a volume on the evolution of hearing in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Clack is probably best known for discovering that the earliest tetrapods had more than five toes per foot: the Upper Devonian tetrapods from East Greenland, Ichthyostega had seven while Acanthostega had eight (compared to the six toes of the Russian Devonian tetrapod Tulerpeton). This suggests that pentadactyly was not an ancestral trait for tetrapods.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Clack supervised many graduate students who went on to pursue successful careers in paleontology and evolutionary biology, including Per Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Paul Upchurch (University College London), Michael Lee (Flinders University), and Matthew Friedman (University of Michigan).<ref name=":0" /> In April 2012 she was featured in an episode<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of the BBC television series Beautiful Minds, a set of documentaries about scientists who have made important discoveries. This may be viewed on YouTube.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Clack was honored by her peers with a festschrift published in 2019.<ref name=":0" />

Taxa named by Jennifer Clack and colleagues

Year	Taxon	Authors
2020	Rossichthys clackae gen. et sp. nov	Johanson et al.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2020	Brittagnathus minutus gen. et sp. nov.	Ahlberg & Clack<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2019	Parmastega aelidae gen. et sp. nov.	Beznosov, Clack, Lukševičs, Ruta & Ahlberg<ref name=":3" />
2019	Limanichthys fraseri gen. et sp. nov.	Challands et al.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2018	Celsiodon ahlbergi gen. et sp. nov.	Clack, Challands, Smithon & Smithson<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2018	Mesanerpeton woodi gen. et sp. nov.	Smithson & Clack<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2018	Whitropus longicalcus gen. et sp. nov.	Richards et al.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref>
2018	Deltodus tubineus sp. nov.	Richards et al.<ref name=":4" />
2017	Spathicephalus marsdeni sp. nov.	Smithson et al.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2016	Perittodus apsconditus gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Smithson<ref name=":5">Template:Cite journal</ref>
2016	Koilops herma gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Smithson<ref name=":5" />
2016	Ossirarus kierani gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Smithson<ref name=":5" />
2016	Diploradus austiumensis gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Smithson<ref name=":5" />
2016	Aytonerpeton microps gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Smithson<ref name=":5" />
2015	Ctenodus williei sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6">Template:Cite journal</ref>
2015	Ctenodus whitropei sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Ctenodus roberti sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Xylognathus macrustenus gen. et sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Ballagadus rossi gen. et sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Ballagadus caustrimi sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Coccovedus celatus gen. et sp. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2015	Occludus romeri gen. nov.	Smithson, Richards & Clack<ref name=":6" />
2012	Ymeria denticulata gen. et sp. nov.	Clack, Ahlberg, Blöm & Finney<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2011	Kirktonecta milnerae gen. et sp. nov.	Clack<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2004	Occidens portlocki gen. et sp. nov.	Clack & Ahlberg<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2003	Kyrinion martilli gen. et sp. nov.	Clack<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2002	Pederpes finneyae gen. et sp. nov.	Clack<ref name=":2" />
1998	Eucritta melanolimnetes gen. et sp. nov.	Clack<ref name=":1" />
1993	Silvanerpeton miripedes gen. et sp. nov.	Clack<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Death

Clack died on 26 March 2020 at the age of 72, after a five-year battle with endometrial cancer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honours

In 2008, Clack was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the first woman to achieve the honor.<ref name=Elliot>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2009, Clack was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the first female vertebrate paleontologist to achieve the honor.<ref name="bio - Royal Society fellows">Template:Cite web</ref> She has also been elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 15 June 2013, Clack was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree by the University of Chicago. The university described her as "an internationally preeminent palaeontologist whose research has profoundly changed the understanding of the origin of terrestrial vertebrate life."<ref name="Hon DSc - University of Chicago">Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2013, she was awarded the T Neville George Medal by the Geological Society of Glasgow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 17 July 2014, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Leicester.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2014, she was made an Honorary Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018, she won the Palaeontological Association's most prestigious award, the Lapworth Medal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Jenny Clack on the Cambridge University website
• Home page - Jennifer "Jenny" Clack
• Profile on PBS website
• Interview on PBS website
• Jenny Clack, Paleontologist: The First Vertebrate Walks on Land on Vimeo, 2012