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Hans Thewissen
Johannes Gerardus Marie (Hans) Thewissen is a Dutch-American paleontologist known for his significant contributions to the field of whale evolution. Thewissen's fieldwork has led to the discovery of key fossils that have shed light on the transition of whales from land to water, including the discovery of Ambulocetus, Pakicetus, Indohyus, and Kutchicetus. In addition to his work on fossil discoveries, Thewissen also studies modern bowhead and beluga whales in Alaska, focusing on their biology and the implications of this knowledge for management and conservation efforts. His research has been instrumental in deepening our understanding of cetacean evolution and the adaptations that allowed these mammals to transition from terrestrial to fully aquatic lifestyles.
Thewissen has always been interested in paleontology and natural history. His mother said that when Thewissen was a small boy, she had to sort through his pockets before laundry time to take out the rocks and worms he collected. His father used to take him to the town of Maastricht, and they collected fossils from the Maastrichtian period. His 12th birthday present was a rock hammer, which has accompanied him on all collecting trips since. He grew up just 2 miles from Liessel, a fossil locale that yielded the first whales he ever collected.
After finishing Gymnasium secondary education in Deurne, he completed undergraduate degrees in biology with a minor in geology in 1981 at the University of Utrecht.
Thewissen's M.S. projects involved work in three departments of the University of Utrecht. He studied a small artiodactyl from the Eocene of Pakistan in the Geology Department, the systematic position of aardvarks in the biology department, and the functional morphology of digging in the veterinary sciences.
He then earned an MSc cum laude degree in biology from the University of Utrecht in 1984. He studied for a semester at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, before moving to the U.S. to earn a PhD in Geological Sciences at the University of Michigan, where he studied phenacodontids, a group of Paleogene ungulate mammals (condylarths) that is ubiquitous in North America (more than 6,000 fossils), but rare or absent in all other continents. The work with artiodactyls and phenacodontids brought familiarity with the terrestrial ancestors of cetaceans. At that time, paleontologists thought cetaceans were derived from another group of condylarths, mesonychians, even though molecular biologists later found evidence that cetaceans were closely related to artiodactyls.
After graduating from the University of Michigan, he moved to a postdoctoral position at Duke University Medical Center which is where he became interested in studying whales. Thewissen's work on pakicetids in 2001, and that of his former PhD advisor Philip Gingerich in the same year provided evidence to support a re-evaluation of all fossil evidence.
Thewissen was an assistant professor at Northeast Ohio Medical University (then called Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine) from 1993 to 1999, then associate professor from 1999 to 2008.
In 2001, he was a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since 1994 he has been a research associate at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In 2008 he became the Ingalls-Brown Endowed Chair, Full Professor of Anatomy at Northeast Ohio Medical University. In February 2019, he was a scientist in residence at Sitka Sound Science Center, Alaska.
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Hans Thewissen
Johannes Gerardus Marie (Hans) Thewissen is a Dutch-American paleontologist known for his significant contributions to the field of whale evolution. Thewissen's fieldwork has led to the discovery of key fossils that have shed light on the transition of whales from land to water, including the discovery of Ambulocetus, Pakicetus, Indohyus, and Kutchicetus. In addition to his work on fossil discoveries, Thewissen also studies modern bowhead and beluga whales in Alaska, focusing on their biology and the implications of this knowledge for management and conservation efforts. His research has been instrumental in deepening our understanding of cetacean evolution and the adaptations that allowed these mammals to transition from terrestrial to fully aquatic lifestyles.
Thewissen has always been interested in paleontology and natural history. His mother said that when Thewissen was a small boy, she had to sort through his pockets before laundry time to take out the rocks and worms he collected. His father used to take him to the town of Maastricht, and they collected fossils from the Maastrichtian period. His 12th birthday present was a rock hammer, which has accompanied him on all collecting trips since. He grew up just 2 miles from Liessel, a fossil locale that yielded the first whales he ever collected.
After finishing Gymnasium secondary education in Deurne, he completed undergraduate degrees in biology with a minor in geology in 1981 at the University of Utrecht.
Thewissen's M.S. projects involved work in three departments of the University of Utrecht. He studied a small artiodactyl from the Eocene of Pakistan in the Geology Department, the systematic position of aardvarks in the biology department, and the functional morphology of digging in the veterinary sciences.
He then earned an MSc cum laude degree in biology from the University of Utrecht in 1984. He studied for a semester at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, before moving to the U.S. to earn a PhD in Geological Sciences at the University of Michigan, where he studied phenacodontids, a group of Paleogene ungulate mammals (condylarths) that is ubiquitous in North America (more than 6,000 fossils), but rare or absent in all other continents. The work with artiodactyls and phenacodontids brought familiarity with the terrestrial ancestors of cetaceans. At that time, paleontologists thought cetaceans were derived from another group of condylarths, mesonychians, even though molecular biologists later found evidence that cetaceans were closely related to artiodactyls.
After graduating from the University of Michigan, he moved to a postdoctoral position at Duke University Medical Center which is where he became interested in studying whales. Thewissen's work on pakicetids in 2001, and that of his former PhD advisor Philip Gingerich in the same year provided evidence to support a re-evaluation of all fossil evidence.
Thewissen was an assistant professor at Northeast Ohio Medical University (then called Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine) from 1993 to 1999, then associate professor from 1999 to 2008.
In 2001, he was a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since 1994 he has been a research associate at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In 2008 he became the Ingalls-Brown Endowed Chair, Full Professor of Anatomy at Northeast Ohio Medical University. In February 2019, he was a scientist in residence at Sitka Sound Science Center, Alaska.
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