Joan Wiffen CBE (née Pederson; 4 February 1922 – 30 June 2009) was a self-taught New Zealand paleontologist known for discovering the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand.
Joan Wiffen | |
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Born | Joan Pederson 4 February 1922 |
Died | 30 June 2009 Hastings, New Zealand | (aged 87)
Nationality | New Zealand |
Known for | First discovery of dinosaur fossils in New Zealand |
Spouse | Montagu Arthur "Pont" Wiffen (m. 1953) |
Awards | Morris Skinner Award |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Paleontology |
Early life
editWiffen was born in 1922 and was brought up in Havelock North and the King Country.[1] She only had a very short secondary school education as her father believed that higher education was wasted on girls, resulting in her education opportunities being limited during her youth.[2] At the age of 16, Wiffen joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II where she served for six years.[2]
Career
editIn 1975 Wiffen discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand in the Mangahouanga Valley in Northern Hawkes Bay. Her first discovery was the tail bone of a theropod dinosaur. Her later finds included bones from a hypsilophodont, a pterosaur, an ankylosaur, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.[2] In 1999, Wiffen discovered the vertebra bone of a titanosaur in a tributary of the Te Hoe River.[3] The fossils Wiffen found are primarily held in a GNS Science collection.
Honours and awards
editWiffen was awarded an honorary DSc by Massey University in 1994.[4] In the 1995 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to science.[5] In 2004, she won the Morris Skinner Award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.[1] In 2017, Wiffen was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.[6]
Personal life
editIn 1953 she married Pont Wiffen and they had two children. Joan Wiffen died at the age of 87 on 30 June 2009 in Hastings Hospital.[2]
Further reading
edit- Valley of the Dragons: The Story of New Zealand's Dinosaur Woman by Joan Wiffen: Random Century, Auckland, 1991
References
edit- ^ a b Scott, Michon (1 August 2009). "Rocky road: Joan Wiffen". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d "'Dinosaur Lady' Joan Wiffen dies at 87". New Zealand Herald. 2 July 2009.
- ^ "Giant dinosaur fossil find in Hawke's Bay". stuff.co.nz. 24 June 2008. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ "Honorary graduates". Massey University. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ "No. 53894". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 30 December 1994. p. 34.
- ^ "Joan Wiffen". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
External links
edit- "Dinosaur finder", audio of Wiffen speaking about her first visit to Maungahounga. Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero.