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{{Short description|American paleontologist}}
{{For|the Baltic-German/Polish painter, sculptor and printmaker|Alfred Isidore Romer}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Alfred Romer
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|ForMemRS}}
|birth_name = Alfred Sherwood Romer<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Westoll | first1 = T. S. | last2 = Parrington | first2 = F. R. |author2-link=Francis Rex Parrington | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1975.0016 | title = Alfred Sherwood Romer 28 December 1894 -- 5 November 1973 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 21 | pages = 496–516 | year = 1975 | s2cid = 73207256 }}</ref>
|image = Alfred_Sherwood_Romer.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = Alfred Romer in 1965
|birth_date = December 28, 1894
|birth_place = [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]], New York
|death_date = November 5, 1973 (age 78)
|death_place =
|residence =
|ethnicity =
|field = [[Paleontology]]
|work_institutions = [[Museum of Comparative Zoology]]
|alma_mater = {{ublist|[[Amherst College]]|[[Columbia University]]}}
|thesis_title = The Locomotor Apparatus of Certain Primitive and Mammal-like Reptiles
|thesis_url = https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1934261
|thesis_year = 1922
|doctoral_advisor = [[William King Gregory]]
|doctoral_students =
|known_for =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes = {{ublist|[[Mary Clark Thompson Medal]] {{small|(1954)}}|[[Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal]] {{small|(1956)}}|[[Hayden Memorial Geological Award]] {{small|(1962)}}|[[Penrose Medal]] {{small|(1962)}}|[[Paleontological Society Medal]] {{small|(1966)}}|[[Foreign Member of the Royal Society]] {{small|(1969)}}|[[Linnean Medal]] {{small|(1972)}}|[[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1973)}}}}
}}

'''Alfred Sherwood Romer''' (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American [[paleontologist]] and [[biologist]] and a specialist in [[vertebrate]] [[evolution]].

==Biography==
Alfred Romer was born in [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]], New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer and his wife, Evalyn Sherwood. He was educated at White Plains High School.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He studied at [[Amherst College]] for his [[Bachelor of Science]] Honours degree in biology, then at [[Columbia University]] for an M.Sc. in biology and a doctorate in [[zoology]] in 1921. Romer joined the department of geology and paleontology at the University of Chicago as an associate professor in 1923. He was an active researcher and teacher. His collecting program added important Paleozoic specimens to Chicago's Walker Museum of Paleontology. In 1934 he was appointed professor of [[biology]] at [[Harvard University]]. In 1946, he became director of the Harvard [[Museum of Comparative Zoology]] (MCZ). Romer was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1937.<ref name="Alfred Sherwood Romer">{{Cite web |title=Alfred Sherwood Romer |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/alfred-sherwood-romer |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |date=9 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref> In 1951, he was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Alfred+Romer&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> In 1954 Romer was awarded the [[Mary Clark Thompson Medal]] from the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], of which he was a member.<ref name="Thompson">{{cite web|title=Mary Clark Thompson Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_thompson |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195631/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_thompson |archive-date=December 29, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="Alfred Sherwood Romer"/> He was awarded the academy's [[Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal]] in 1956.<ref name="Elliot">{{cite web|title=Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801121352/http://nas.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot |archive-date=August 1, 2012 }}</ref> In 1961, Romer received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>

==Evolutionary research==
Romer was a keen practical student of vertebrate evolution. Comparing facts from [[paleontology]], [[comparative anatomy]], and [[embryology]], he taught the basic structural and functional changes that happened during the [[evolution of fish]]es to ancestral terrestrial [[vertebrate]]s and from these to all other [[tetrapod]]s. He always emphasized the evolutionary significance of the relationship between form and function of animals and their environment.

Through his textbook [[Vertebrate Paleontology (Romer)|''Vertebrate Paleontology'']], Romer laid the foundation for the traditional classification of vertebrates. He drew together the then widely scattered taxonomy of the different vertebrate groups and combined them into a single scheme, emphasizing orderliness and overview. Based on his research into early amphibians, he reorganised the [[labyrinthodontia]]ns.<ref>"Romer, Alfred Sherwood." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830905302.html</ref> [[Vertebrate Paleontology#Paleontological Vertebrate Classification|Romer's classification]] has been followed by many subsequent authors, notably [[Robert L. Carroll]], and is still in use.

==Namesakes==
===Taxonomic patronyms===
In honor of Alfred Romer, several [[Patronym (taxonomy)#Naming process|taxonomic patronyms]] were given in animals:
* [[Romeriida]] is the name for a [[clade]] that contains the [[diapsid]]s and their closest relatives.
* ''[[Romeria (genus)|Romeria]]'' is a genus of early [[Captorhinidae|captorhinids]].
* ''[[Romeriscus]]'' is a genus from the early Pennsylvanian (Late [[Carboniferous]]) initially described as the oldest known amniote,<ref name=B&C67>{{cite journal | last1 = Baird | first1 = D. | last2 = Carroll | first2 = R.L. | name-list-style=vanc| year = 1967 | title =''Romeriscus'', the oldest known reptile |jstor=1721645| journal = Science | volume = 157 | issue = 3784| pages = 56–59 | doi=10.1126/science.157.3784.56| pmid = 6026664 | bibcode = 1967Sci...157...56B | s2cid = 10481925 }}</ref> but this is because [[limnoscelidae|limnoscelids]] were, at that time, considered [[amniotes]] by some authors. A subsequent study showed that the fossil lacks diagnostic characters and can only be assigned to [[Tetrapoda]].<ref name=L&R92>{{cite journal | last1 = Reisz | first1 = R.R. | last2 = Laurin | first2 = M. | name-list-style=vanc| year = 1992 | title = A reassessment of the Pennsylvanian tetrapod ''Romeriscus'' | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 12 | issue = 4| pages = 524–527 | doi=10.1080/02724634.1992.10011478| bibcode = 1992JVPal..12..524L }}</ref>
* ''[[Romerodus]]'' is a genus of [[Eugeneodontida|eugeneodont]] fish.
* ''[[Dromomeron]] romeri'' is a species of non-dinosaurian [[Dinosauromorpha|dinosauromorph]] named in July 2007. The genus name means 'running femur,' and the species name honors the paleontologist, a key figure in evolution research. The finding of these fossils was hailed as a breakthrough proving dinosaurs and other dinosauromorphs "lived together for as long as 15 to 20 million years."<ref>{{cite news|title=Grad student finds 'pre-dinosaur'|date=2007-07-20|author=Andrew Herrmann|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/476588,CST-NWS-predino20.article|publisher=Chicago Sun-Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013130218/http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/476588,CST-NWS-predino20.article|archive-date=2008-10-13}}</ref><ref name=RIetal07supplement>{{Cite journal | last1 = Irmis | first1 = R. B. | last2 = Nesbitt | first2 = S. J. | last3 = Padian | first3 = K. | last4 = Smith | first4 = N. D. | last5 = Turner | first5 = A. H. | last6 = Woody | first6 = D. | last7 = Downs | first7 = A. | doi = 10.1126/science.1143325 | title = A Late Triassic Dinosauromorph Assemblage from New Mexico and the Rise of Dinosaurs | journal = Science | volume = 317 | issue = 5836 | pages = 358–361 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17641198| bibcode = 2007Sci...317..358I | s2cid = 6050601 | url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/15342/files/PAL_E2679.pdf }}</ref>

===Romer's gap===
Romer was the first to recognise the gap in the fossil record between the [[tetrapods]] of the [[Devonian]] and the later [[Carboniferous]] period, a gap that has borne the name [[Romer's gap]] since 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Ward | first1 = P. | last2 = Labandeira | first2 = C. | last3 = Laurin | first3 = M. | last4 = Berner | first4 = R. A. | title = Confirmation of Romer's Gap as a low oxygen interval constraining the timing of initial arthropod and vertebrate terrestrialization | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0607824103 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 103 | issue = 45 | pages = 16818–22 | year = 2006 | pmid = 17065318| pmc = 1636538| bibcode = 2006PNAS..10316818W | doi-access = free }}
</ref>

===Romerogram===
[[File:Spindle diagram.jpg|thumb|right|A romerogram of the [[vertebrate]]s at class level, with the width of spindles indicating number of families.]]
A romerogram, also called spindle diagram, or bubble diagram, is a diagram popularised by Alfred Romer.<ref name="palaeos">{{cite web |url=http://palaeos.com/systematics/evolutionary/spindle_diagram.html |title=Evolutionary systematics: Spindle Diagrams |date=2014-11-10 |website=Palaeos.com |access-date=2019-11-13 }}</ref>
It represents taxonomic diversity (horizontal width) against [[Geologic time scale|geological time]] (vertical axis) in order to reflect the variation of abundance of various taxa through time.<ref name="3lbmonkeybrain">{{cite web |url=https://3lbmonkeybrain.blogspot.com/2007/11/trees-bubbles-and-hooves.html |title= Trees, Bubbles, and Hooves |date=2007-11-21 |website=A Three-Pound Monkey Brain — Biology, programming, linguistics, phylogeny, systematics … |access-date=2019-11-13 }}</ref>

==Books==
*Romer, A.S. 1933. ''[[Vertebrate Paleontology (Romer)|Vertebrate Paleontology]].'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1945; 3rd ed. 1966)
*Romer, A.S. 1933. ''Man and the Vertebrates.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (2nd ed. 1937; 3rd ed. 1941; 4th ed., retitled ''The Vertebrate Story'', 1949)
*Romer, A.S. 1949. ''The Vertebrate Body.'' W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia. (2nd ed. 1955; 3rd ed. 1962; 4th ed. 1970)
*Romer, A.S. 1949. ''The Vertebrate Story.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (4th ed. of ''Man and the Vertebrates'')
*Romer, A.S. 1956. ''Osteology of the Reptiles.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
*Romer, A.S. 1968. ''Notes and Comments on Vertebrate Paleontology.'' University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
*Romer, A.S. & T.S. Parsons. 1977. ''The Vertebrate Body.'' 5th ed. Saunders, Philadelphia. (6th ed. 1985)

==Sources==
{{reflist|28em}}

== External links ==
* [http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/ROME1894.htm Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Alfred S. Romer]
* [https://www.nap.edu/read/576/chapter/11 NAS Biography of Alfred Romer]
* [https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/190 Alfred Sherwood Romer (AC 1917) Papers] at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections

{{Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Alfred}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Amherst College alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:American paleontologists]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:People from White Plains, New York]]
[[Category:Penrose Medal winners]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]
[[Category:20th-century American people]]

Alfred Romer - Revision history

imported>Jevansen: add to :Category:20th-century American people