Doctor John Harold Ostrom

1928 - 2005  (77 years)  Submit Photo / Document

• Name	John Harold Ostrom
  Title	Doctor
  Born	18 Feb 1928	New York, New York, New York
  Gender	Male
  Census	1930
  		1930 Ostrum. 1930 US census, Lansdowne, Delaware, Pennsylvania, enumeration district 23-77, Family Number 346, Ostrum.
  Census	1940
  		1940 Ostrum. 1940 US census, Niskayuna, Schenectady, New York, enumeration district 47-18, Family Number 635, Ostrum.
  Occupation	Paleontologist.
  		John Ostrom's Field Crew-1962. John Ostrom's Field Crew-1962. John is front/center.
  		Hadrosaur Herd. In 1963 after an extensive study of dinosaur footprints, Ostrom authored a paper on the Hadrosaurus, a type of duck-billed dinosaur. The creatures were seen as slow moving beasts that lived in swamps like hippopotami. Ostrom argued that the herbivorous creatures were active land creatures that traveled in heards “like bipedal buffaloes.”
  		Deinonychus Deinonychus (dy-NON-i-kəs) is derived from from Greek. It means "terrible claw". The first Deinonychus bones were recovered in 1931 by a team lead by Barnum Brown. Having little to work with he never perused an advanced study of the remains. In 1964 John found more remains and his study is considered one of the most important advances in the paleontological study of dinosaurs. Once seen as sluggish cold-blooded lizards John completely reinvented the situation. He showed that Deinonychus was an active predator that killed its prey by leaping and slashing or stabbing with its "terrible claw". Evidence of long strings of muscle running along the tail, made it a stiff counterbalance for jumping and running. It was now clear that at least some dinosaurs had a high metabolism, and were likely warm-blooded. The idea has boldly been carried forward by his student Robert T. Bakker. Photo is a Deinonychus skeletal mount on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
  		The Haarlem Archaeopteryx. In 1970 Ostrom studied a long forgotten fossil that had been misidentified as a type of pterodactyl. He thought the fossil was an Archaeopteryx so he renamed the fossil the Haarlem Archaeopteryx as it belonged to the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Netherland. Ostrom began to argue that dinosaurs were not extinct and what remained of them now lived among us as birds. At the time this was a radical view that very few paleontologist gave any serious thought to. In 2017 Christian Foth and Oliver Rauhut studied the fossil and found enough differences from the Archaeopteryx to declare it a separate species. They named it Ostromia in John's honor. It is so far the only fossil of it's species to have been found.
  		Deinonychus. Jurassic Park was science-fiction that was weighted way more to the fiction side than the science. Author Michael Crichton consulted with Ostrom when he was writing the book. The book uses the Deinonychus but Crichton decided to call it a Velociraptor because he liked the name. In the movie the raptors could stand face to face with a man and stare him in the eye. A Velociraptor would be staring at your knees. In reality it was about the size of a good sized turkey. In the movie Muldoon's last words were "Clever girl." There is no evidence that Deinonychus was as intelligent as the movie made them to be. The movie depicted them as holding their hands palm down with fingers hanging down which, in one scene even allowed them to work a lever type door knob. Deinonychus held its hands with the palms facing each other in a clapping type of stance. Before we even start on the feathers Deinonychus's non-rotating wrist would have been stymied by a door knob. Spielberg wanted the movie raptors to have forked tongues. Jack Horner who was the movie's dinosaur consultant talked him out of that because we know they didn't have forked tongues. Unfortunately they spent a lot of time whipping their tails around. Deinonychus didn't wag it's tail. It was stiff, acting as a counterbalance. Between the original and Jurassic Park III the science had matured. Jurassic Park III's raptors were given some goofy pin feathers sticking out of it's head like a mohawk. Science however determined all of Deinonychus's close relatives were fully feathered so it is now accepted that Deinonychus was fully feathered as well. Younger ones may even have been capable of rudimentary flight. This was vindication for everything Ostrom had been saying for most of his working life. Almost concurrent with the movie debut the type species, Utahraptor ostrommaysi was named in honor of Ostrom. It might have been a more appropriate star of the film being taller than Deinonychus but, the differences already discussed apply to it as well. It had been intended to name the species "Utahraptor spielbergi" after film director Steven Spielberg, in exchange for funding paleontological research, but no agreement could be reached on the amount of financial assistance.
  		Bone Wars (19) The "Bone Wars" of the 1870's and other significant paleontologist in this tree.
  Died	16 Jul 2005	Litchfield, Litchfield, Connecticut
  		John Ostrum Obituary. The Los Angeles Times, Thursday, July 21, 2005. Page 9 section B.
  Siblings	2 siblings
  1. Andrew Griswold Ostrom,   b. 11 Oct 1932, Schenectady, Schenectady, New York ,   d. 5 May 2011, Middle Grove, Saratoga, New York
  2. Margaret Chalmers Ostrom,   b. 21 Aug 1935, Schenectady, Schenectady, New York ,   d. 13 Sep 2013, Florida
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I57571	Nagel
  Last Modified	4 Apr 2022

  
  

  Father	William Chalmers Ostrom,   b. 2 Sep 1901, West Charlton, Saratoga, New York ,   d. 1 May 1977, Middleburgh, Schoharie, New York  (Age 75 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Norma McGrath Beebe,   b. 29 Sep 1902, Cutchogue, Suffolk, New York ,   d. 13 Feb 1973, Holyoke, Hampden, Massachusetts  (Age 70 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Married	2 Sep 1925	Cutchogue, Suffolk, New York
  	Note: This may not be the correct placement of the children. Research is ongoing.
  Documents		Ostrum-Beebe Marriage. Record of Marriages, Suffolk County, New York.
  Family ID	F16964	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Nancy Grace Hartman,   b. 27 Dec 1929, Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania ,   d. 28 May 2003, Cheshire, New Haven, Connecticut  (Age 73 years)
  Married	14 Jun 1952
  Children	1. Karen Ostrom  [Birth]   2. Alicia Ostrom  [Birth]
  Last Modified	15 Mar 2021
  Family ID	F16965	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 18 Feb 1928 - New York, New York, New York Died - 16 Jul 2005 - Litchfield, Litchfield, Connecticut  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos		John Ostrom. John Ostrom.
  		John Ostrom John Ostrom is credited with bringing fourth the Dinosaur Renaissance. The period between the Bone Wars and the Dinosaur Renaissance has been referred to as the Dinosaur Doldrums. John's theories that dinosaurs may have been warm blooded and may have evolved into birds inspired a lot of people. The increased interest that was triggered in the late 1960's carries on to the present. It has led to an explosion in the number of known dinosaur species.