Diego Pol

Diego Pol
Born	(1974-06-23) June 23, 1974 (age 51) Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
Nationality	Argentina
Occupation	Paleontologist
Known for	Dinosaur paleontology in Patagonia
Awards	Bernardo Houssay Award

Fossils of Eoabelisaurus, Egidio Feruglio Museum

Fossil of a titanosaur from Chubut, Egidio Feruglio Museum

Diego Pol (born 23 June 1974, Rosario) is an Argentine paleontologist, specialized in Mesozoic era dinosaurs of Patagonia. ^{[1] [2]} He is a principal researcher of CONICET at the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio in Trelew. He is notable for his contributions to the discovery and naming of several dinosaur species, such as Lorosuchus , Manidens , Glacialisaurus , Eoabelisaurus , and others.

Biography

Diego Pol was born on 23 June 1974 in Rosario, Argentina, but moved to Buenos Aires in his childhood. He studied at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires and in 1999 graduated with a degree in Biological Sciences from the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires.

In 1999, he moved to New York City, United States, where he obtained a master's degree and a PhD in a joint program of the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University. ^[3] His PhD thesis focused on the evolution of basal dinosaurs and Mesozoic crocodyliforms, under the supervision of Dr. M. A. Norell. ^[3]

In 2005 he completed postdoctoral studies at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute of Ohio State University. There, under the direction of Dr. D. Janies (OSU) and Pablo Goloboff (CONICET), he worked on heuristic methods for searching phylogenetic trees.

In 2006 he returned to Argentina to work at the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum, conducting fieldwork and studying fossils discovered there. ^[1] His research focuses on phylogenetic relationships and the evolution of Mesozoic archosaurs.

Together with José Luis Carballido, he was part of the team that discovered what turned out to be the largest titanosaur in the world in Chubut Province in 2011, presented to the public in May 2014. ^[4] This dinosaur, Patagotitan mayorum , was featured in the 2016 documentary Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur, where Pol appeared alongside David Attenborough and Ben Garrod. ^{[5] [6]}

That same year, he was one of the four winners of the 2013 Bernardo Houssay Award presented by the Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, given to researchers under 45. ^[7]

In 2023 he received the Konex Foundation Platinum Konex Award for his work in Paleontology over the last decade. ^[8]

He is also deputy editor of Ameghiniana , the bimonthly publication of the Argentine Paleontological Association. ^[9]

Selected publications

A selection of Diego Pol's most cited publications:

• Turner, A. H., Pol, D., Clarke, J. A., Erickson, G. M., & Norell, M. A. (2007). A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight. Science, 317(5843), 1378–1381.
• Buckley, G. A., Brochu, C. A., Krause, D. W., & Pol, D. (2000). A pug-nosed crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Nature, 405(6789), 941.
• Pol, D. (2003). New remains of Sphagesaurus huenei (Crocodylomorpha: Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23(4), 817–831.

References

1. "Diego Pol". Egidio Feruglio Museum. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
2. "Diego Pol at Google Scholar".
3. "CV of Diego Pol" (PDF). MinCyT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
4. "'Biggest dinosaur ever' discovered". BBC.
5. Carballido, José L.; Pol, Diego; Otero, Alejandro; Cerda, Ignacio A.; Salgado, Leonardo; Garrido, Alberto C.; Ramezani, Jahandar; Cúneo, Néstor R.; Krause, Javier M. (9 August 2017). "A new giant titanosaur sheds light on body mass evolution among sauropod dinosaurs". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1860): 20171219. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1219. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   5563814 . Retrieved 7 October 2020.
6. "Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur (TV Movie 2016) - IMDb" . Retrieved 7 October 2020.
7. "2013 Houssay, Houssay Trajectory and Jorge Sabato Awards winners". Argentine Ministry of Science.
8. "Platinum and Diamond Konex Awards announced". Konex Foundation. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
9. "Ameghiniana Editorial Committee". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2014.