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| International Paleontological Congress | |
|---|---|
| Name | International Paleontological Congress |
| Abbreviation | IPC |
| Formation | 1928 |
| Type | Scientific conference |
| Headquarters | Rotating venues |
| Leader title | President |
International Paleontological Congress is a quadrennial meeting that gathers researchers, curators, and educators in paleontology, fostering international collaborations among institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, American Museum of Natural History, and Royal Ontario Museum. The Congress connects major projects and networks like the International Union of Geological Sciences, International Commission on Stratigraphy, Paleontological Society, International Paleontological Association, and regional bodies including the European Palaeontological Association, Japan Paleontological Society, Palaeontological Association of China, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Association of Latin American Paleontologists.
The Congress originated amid exchanges between figures such as Arthur Smith Woodward, Dawson Turner, Ernst Haeckel, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and institutions like the British Museum (Natural History), leading to early meetings influenced by expeditions such as the Discovery Expedition and the work of collectors like Mary Anning and Friedrich von Huene. Interwar developments involved participants from the Geological Society of London, Royal Society, Carnegie Institution for Science, Palaeontological Association (UK), and scholars including Othenio Abel, Edwin Hennig, William Diller Matthew, and Charles D. Walcott. Post-World War II sessions reflected contributions from André Hubert Dumont-era stratigraphers, collaborations with the International Geological Congress, and attendance by delegates from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, National Academy of Sciences (United States), Academia Sinica, Australian Academy of Science, and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Late 20th-century growth saw involvement by researchers associated with Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, University of Tokyo, Peking University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford.
Governance models integrate representatives from organizations such as the International Union of Geological Sciences, International Paleontological Association, Paleontological Society, Geological Society of America, European Federation of Organisations for Research and Technology Development, International Council for Science, and national bodies like National Science Foundation (United States), Natural Environment Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología. Executive committees have included presidents and officers affiliated with Royal Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Society of Canada, Australian Academy of Science, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Académie des sciences (France). Advisory boards often feature curators from the Field Museum of Natural History, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Senckenberg Research Institute, Iziko South African Museum, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Spain), and university departments like University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Paris, and University of São Paulo.
Meetings rotate globally and have been hosted in cities tied to landmark collections and research centers such as London, Paris, New York City, Washington, D.C., Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Toronto, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, Seville, Athens, Cairo, Istanbul, Cape Town, Pretoria, São Paulo, Santiago (Chile), Lima, Havana, Ottawa, Montreal, Reykjavík, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Kraków, Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Almaty, Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Tehran, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, and Singapore.
Programs emphasize themes connecting fossil studies and institutions such as University of Cambridge (UK), Imperial College London, École Normale Supérieure, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, King's College London, McGill University, University of British Columbia, Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, National Taiwan University, Seoul National University, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, and Indian Institute of Science. Session topics span taphonomy, systematics, phylogenetics, paleobiogeography, paleoecology, macroevolution, mass extinctions, and methods tied to facilities like the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and analytical centers at University of Oxford and University College London. Workshops partner with projects such as Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, PANGEA data repository, Neotoma Paleoecology Database, PaleoDB, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Tree of Life Web Project, International Geoscience Programme, Deep Time Digital Earth, and collaborations with museums like the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Honors presented at Congress-related events reference prizes and medals from organizations including the Darwin Medal, Lyell Medal, Wollaston Medal, Cuvier Medal, Lapworth Medal, Stanton Medal, Romer-Simpson Medal, W. B. Scott Prize, Mary Anning Award, Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal, Beverley Halstead Award, Paleontology Medal (Royal Society), Royal Society Bakerian Medal, National Medal of Science (United States), Fields Medal-adjacent recognitions in allied fields, and awards from national academies like the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina. Institutional fellowships often cited include Smithsonian Fellowships, Fulbright Program, Humboldt Research Fellowship, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships, National Natural Science Foundation of China grants, and support from agencies such as the European Research Council.
Proceedings and special issues are published by presses and journals including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Springer Nature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, PLOS ONE, Nature, Science, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Journal of Paleontology, Palaeontology (journal), Geological Magazine, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Zootaxa, Cretaceous Research, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Historical Biology, Journal of the Geological Society, Quaternary Science Reviews, Palaios, Lethaia, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Micropaleontology, and contributions to databases like PaleoDB and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
The Congress has catalyzed collaborations among research centers such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Max Planck Society, CNRS, CSIC, CSIRO, NIH, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and museums including American Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum, London, National Museum of Natural History (France), Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Spain), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, and archives like the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Outcomes include standardized stratigraphic frameworks with input from the International Commission on Stratigraphy, data mobilization in initiatives such as GBIF, advances in methodologies via collaborations with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, and interdisciplinary contributions informing debates involving Darwin's theory of evolution, Alfred Wegener-inspired paleobiogeography, and perspectives referenced in works associated with Stephen Jay Gould, Niles Eldredge, Ernst Mayr, Charles Darwin, Richard Owen, Gideon Mantell, and Thomas Huxley.
Category:Paleontology organizations