Neil Shubin

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Neil Shubin

| image = Neil Shubin.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = Shubin after speaking at the University of Tulsa, with a skull cast of Tiktaalik

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|12|22}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| fields = Evolutionary biology

| workplaces = University of Chicago
Field Museum of Natural History

| alma_mater = Columbia University (A.B.)
Harvard University (Ph.D.)

| thesis_title = The morphogenesis and origin of the skeletal pattern of the tetrapod limb

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/303558346/

| thesis_year = 1987

| doctoral_advisor =

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| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| known_for = Discovery of Tiktaalik roseae

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| awards = Miller Research Fellowship[http://millerinstitute.berkeley.edu/all.php?nav=44#1987 All Miller Fellows Sorted by Term (1987)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029215712/http://millerinstitute.berkeley.edu/all.php?nav=44 |date=2013-10-29 }}
Guggenheim Fellowship[http://www.gf.org/fellows/13481-neil-h-shubin Neil H. Shubin—John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220083013/http://www.gf.org/fellows/13481-neil-h-shubin |date=2013-12-20 }}
National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences 2015 Communication Award with Michael Rosenfeld and David Dugan in Film/Radio/TV for "Your Inner Fish"

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| website = {{URL|https://oba.bsd.uchicago.edu/faculty/neil-h-shubin-phd|uchicago.edu/neil-h-shubin}}

}}

Neil Shubin (born December 22, 1960) is an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Professor on the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago along with being the Provost of the Field Museum of Natural History.{{cite web |url=https://oba.bsd.uchicago.edu/faculty/neil-h-shubin-phd|title=Neil Shubin Home Page |access-date=2008-04-26 |publisher=The University of Chicago}} He is best known for his co-discovery of Tiktaalik roseae with Ted Daeschler and Farish Jenkins.{{Cite journal|last1=Daeschler|first1=Edward B.|last2=Shubin|first2=Neil H.|last3=Jenkins|first3=Farish A.|date=2006-04-06|title=A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan|journal=Nature|volume=440|issue=7085|pages=757–763|doi=10.1038/nature04639|issn=1476-4687|pmid=16598249|bibcode=2006Natur.440..757D|doi-access=free}}

Biography

Raised in Overbrook Hills section of Lower Merion Township{{cite web |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/health/20070528_A_living_fish_has_genetic_clue_to_the_past.html?outputType=amp |title=A living fish has genetic clue to the past |website=www.inquirer.com |date=28 May 2007 |access-date=December 24, 2021}} (contiguous to City of Philadelphia) and a graduate of Lower Merion High School,{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishexponent.com/2012/08/20/stars-of-david-week-of-51712/ |title= Stars of David Week of 5/17/12|website=www.jewishexponent.com |date= 20 August 2012|access-date=December 24, 2021}}{{title missing|date=May 2022}} Shubin earned a A.B. from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1987.{{Cite web|last=Alonso|first=Nathalie|date=April 2011|title=Go Fish - Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin'82 brings out the fish in all of us.|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/archive/mar_apr11/cover_story|access-date=July 19, 2020|website=Columbia College Today}} He also studied at the University of California, Berkeley.{{Cite web |url=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/shubin.html |title=Edge: NEIL SHUBIN |access-date=2010-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221170916/http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/shubin.html |archive-date=2013-12-21 |url-status=dead }}

Shubin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

Shubin was ABC News' "Person of the Week" in April 2006 when Tiktaalik was unveiled,{{Citation |others= Elizabeth Vargas (reporting) |date = April 7, 2006 |title= Person of the Week: Neil Shubin |work= ABC News |url= https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=1818281&page=1#.T4F3ONXwCSo |access-date= April 8, 2012}} and made appearances on The Colbert Report January 14, 2008 and January 9, 2013.{{Cite web|url=http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/ysa6lr/neil-shubin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325145822/http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/ysa6lr/neil-shubin|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 25, 2014|title = The Colbert Report}}

The Communication Awards of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine awarded a $20,000 prize for excellence in communicating science to the general public to Michael Rosenfeld, David Dugan, and Neil Shubin in Film/Radio/TV on October 14, 2015, for Your Inner Fish.{{Cite web|title = 2015 Communication Awards Ceremony by NAS-Webcast|url = http://livestream.com/accounts/7036396/events/4407035|website = The New Livestream|access-date = 2015-10-20}} The awards are given to individuals in four categories: books, film/radio/TV, magazine/newspaper and online, and are supported by the W. M. Keck Foundation. Neil Shubin hosted Your Inner Fish on PBS.{{Citation |title=Your Inner Fish Miniseries |url=https://www.pbs.org/show/your-inner-fish/ |access-date=November 8, 2022}} The show was produced by Windfall Films and Tangled Bank Studios, a production company for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that makes materials available for science classroom education.{{cite web|url=http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/your-inner-fish|title=Classroom Resources for Your Inner Fish|publisher=Howard Hughes Medical Institute|access-date=2014-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219131353/http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/your-inner-fish|archive-date=2015-12-19|url-status=dead}}

He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017.{{cite web|url=https://amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915195158/https://amphilsoc.org/members/electedApril2017|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-09-15|title=American Philosophical Society: Newly Elected - April 2017}} He also served as interim co-director of the Marine Biological Laboratory in 2017.{{Cite web |title=UChicago Faculty Members to Serve on MBL Interim Leadership Team |url=https://www.mbl.edu/news/uchicago-faculty-members-serve-mbl-interim-leadership-team |access-date=2022-07-26 |website=Marine Biological Laboratory |language=en}}

Below is a list of taxa that Shubin has contributed to naming:

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Taxon

!Authors

2022

|Qikiqtania wakei gen. et sp. nov.

|Stewart, Lemberg, Daly, Daeschler & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Thomas A. |last2=Lemberg |first2=Justin B. |last3=Daly |first3=Ailis |last4=Daeschler |first4=Edward B. |last5=Shubin |first5=Neil H. |date=20 July 2022 |title=A new elpistostegalian from the Late Devonian of the Canadian Arctic |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04990-w |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=608 |issue=7923 |pages=563–568 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-04990-w |issn=1476-4687 |access-date=3 January 2025|pmc=9385497 }}

2019

|Asterolepis alticristata sp. nov.

|Downs, Daeschler, Lo, Carey & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Downs |first=Jason P. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |last3=Lo |first3=Nathanael |last4=Carey |first4=Emily N. |last5=Shubin |first5=Neil H. |date=2019-10-17 |title=Asterolepis alticristata n. sp. (Antiarchi) from the Upper Devonian (Frasnian) of Nunavut, Canada, and a report on the antiarch diversity of the Fram Formation |url=https://bioone.org/journals/geodiversitas/volume-41/issue-1/geodiversitas2019v41a19/Asterolepis-alticristata-n-sp-Antiarchi-from-the-Upper-Devonian-Frasnian/10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a19.full |journal=Geodiversitas |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=679 |doi=10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a19 |issn=1280-9659}}

2018

|Eusthenopteron jenkinsi sp. nov.

|Downs, Daeschler, Long & Shubin{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |last3=Long |first3=Alison M. |last4=Shubin |first4=Neil H. |date=2018 |title=Eusthenopteron jenkinsi sp. nov. (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian of Nunavut, Canada, and a Review of Eusthenopteron Taxonomy |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/374158 |journal=Breviora |volume=562 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.3099/mcz44.1 |issn=0006-9698 |s2cid=51883892}}

2017

|Cyclotosaurus naraserluki sp. nov.

|Marzola, Mateus, Shubin & Clemmensen{{Cite journal |last=and |last2=and |first2=and |date=2017-03-04 |title=Cyclotosaurus naraserluki, sp. nov., a new Late Triassic cyclotosaurid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Fleming Fjord Formation of the Jameson Land Basin (East Greenland) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2017.1303501 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=e1303501 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2017.1303501 |issn=0272-4634|hdl=10362/33003 |hdl-access=free }}

2016

|Bothriolepis rex sp. nov.

|Downs, Daeschler, Garcia & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Downs |first=Jason P. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |last3=Garcia |first3=Valentina E. |last4=Shubin |first4=Neil H. |date=2016-11-01 |title=A new large-bodied species of Bothriolepis (Antiarchi) from the Upper Devonian of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2016.1221833 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=36 |issue=6 |pages=e1221833 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2016.1221833 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

2012

|Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis gen. et sp. nov.

|Gao & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Gao |first=Ke-Qin |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |date=2012-04-10 |title=Late Jurassic salamandroid from western Liaoning, China |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1009828109 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=15 |pages=5767–5772 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1009828109 |pmc=3326464 |pmid=22411790}}

2011

|Laccognathus embryi sp. nov.

|Downs, Daeschler, Jenkins & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Downs |first=Jason P. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |last3=Jenkins JR. |first3=Farish A. |last4=Shubin |first4=Neil H. |date=2011-09-01 |title=A new species of Laccognathus (Sarcopterygii, Porolepiformes) from the Late Devonian of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2011.599462 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=981–996 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2011.599462 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

2011

|Diodorus scytobrachion gen. et sp. nov.

|Kammerer, Nesbitt & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Kammerer |first=Christian F. |last2=Nesbitt |first2=Sterling J. |last3=Shubin |first3=Neil H. |date=2012 |title=The First Silesaurid Dinosauriform from the Late Triassic of Morocco |url=https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app20110015.html |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |language=en |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=277–284 |doi=10.4202/app.2011.0015 |issn=0567-7920|doi-access=free }}

2006

|Tiktaalik roseae gen. et sp. nov.

|Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins

2003

|Chunerpeton tianyiensis gen. et sp. nov.

|Gao & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Gao |first=Ke-Qin |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |date=27 March 2003 |title=Earliest known crown-group salamanders |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01491 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=422 |issue=6930 |pages=424–428 |doi=10.1038/nature01491 |issn=1476-4687 |access-date=2 January 2025}}

2003

|Equijubus normani gen. et sp. nov.

|You, Luo, Shubin, Witmer, Tang & Tang{{Cite journal |last=You |first=Hai-lu |last2=Luo |first2=Zhe-xi |last3=Shubin |first3=Neil H. |last4=Witmer |first4=Lawrence M. |last5=Tang |first5=Zhi-lu |last6=Tang |first6=Feng |date=2003-06-01 |title=The earliest-known duck-billed dinosaur from deposits of late Early Cretaceous age in northwest China and hadrosaur evolution |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S019566710300048X |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=347–355 |doi=10.1016/S0195-6671(03)00048-X |issn=0195-6671}}

2001

|Eudimorphodon cromptonellus sp. nov.

|Jenkins, Shubin, Gatesy & Padian{{cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=F. A. Jr. |last2=Shubin |first2=N. H. |last3=Gatesy |first3=S. M. |last4=Padian |first4=K. |year=2001 |title=A diminutive pterosaur (Pterosauria: Eudimorphodontidae) from the Greenlandic Triassic |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |volume=156 |pages=151–170}}

2001

|Sinerpeton fengshanensis gen. et sp. nov.

|Gao & Shubin{{Cite journal |last=Gao |first=Ke-Qin |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |date=2001 |title=Late Jurassic salamanders from northern China |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35069051 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=410 |issue=6828 |pages=574–577 |doi=10.1038/35069051 |issn=1476-4687|url-access=subscription }}

1998

|Antlerpeton clarkii gen. et sp. nov.

|Thomson, Shubin & Poole{{Cite journal |last=Thomson |first=Keith Stewart |first2=Shubin ,Neil S. |last3=and Poole |first3=Forrest G. |date=1998-06-15 |title=A problematic early tetrapod from the Mississippian of Nevada |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011059 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=315–320 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011059 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

1997

|Haramiyavia clemensi gen. et sp. nov.

|Jenkins, Gatesy, Shubin & Amaral{{Cite journal |last=Jenkins |first=Farish A. |last2=Gatesy |first2=Stephen M. |last3=Shubin |first3=Neil H. |last4=Amaral |first4=William W. |date=1997 |title=Haramiyids and Triassic mammalian evolution |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/385715a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=385 |issue=6618 |pages=715–718 |doi=10.1038/385715a0 |issn=1476-4687|url-access=subscription }}

1995

|Prosalirus bitis gen. et sp. nov.

|Shubin & Jenkins{{Cite journal |last=Shubin |first=Neil H. |last2=Jenkins |first2=Farish A. |date=1995 |title=An Early Jurassic jumping frog |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/377049a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=377 |issue=6544 |pages=49–52 |doi=10.1038/377049a0 |issn=1476-4687|url-access=subscription }}

1994

|Protosuchus micmac sp. nov.

|Sues, Shubin, Olsen & Amaral{{Cite journal |last=Sues |first=Hans-Dieter |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |last3=Olsen |first3=Paul E. |last4=Amaral |first4=William W. |date=1996-03-19 |title=On the cranial structure of a new protosuchid (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes) from the McCoy Brook Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Nova Scotia, Canada |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1996.10011281 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=34–41 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1996.10011281 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

1994

|Hynerpeton bassetti gen. et sp. nov.

|Daeschler, Shubin, Thomson & Amaral{{Cite journal |last=Daeschler |first=Edward B. |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |last3=Thomson |first3=Keith S. |last4=Amaral |first4=William W. |date=1994-07-29 |title=A Devonian Tetrapod from North America |url=https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.265.5172.639 |journal=Science |volume=265 |issue=5172 |pages=639–642 |doi=10.1126/science.265.5172.639|url-access=subscription }}

1994

|Clevosaurus bairdi sp. nov.

|Sues, Shubin & Olsen{{Cite journal |last=Sues |first=Hans-Dieter |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |last3=Olsen |first3=Paul E. |date=1994-09-07 |title=A new sphenodontian (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia) from the McCoy Brook Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Nova Scotia, Canada |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1994.10011563 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=327–340 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1994.10011563 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

1991

|Arctotraversodon gen. nov.

|Sues, Hopson & Shubin{{cite journal |last=Sues |first=H.-D. |author2=Hopson, J.A. |author3=Shubin, N.H. |year=1992 |title=Affinities of ?Scalenodontoides plemmyridon Hopson, 1984 (Synapsida: Cynodontia) from the Upper Triassic of Nova Scotia |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=168-17 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1992.10011447}}

Awards and honors

In 2019, Shubin was named the recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award.{{cite web | title = 2019 Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award |url=https://roychapmanandrewssociety.org/dea-recipient/neil-shubin-2019/ |website=Roy Chapman Andrews Society}} Shubin was chosen primarily because of his discoveries to understand the origin of organs in the human body and the connectiveness of all life.

Publications

[https://books.google.com/books?id=c008kdNwR1cC Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body]. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-375-42447-2}}
[https://books.google.com/books?id=JR44Rn8Sn_oC The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People]. Pantheon Books, New York City 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-307-37843-9}}[http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/universe-within-discovering-common-history-rocks-planets-and-people Universe within, discovering common history], New York Journal of Books
[https://books.google.com/books?id=_OTcDwAAQBAJ Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA]. New York: Pantheon Books, 2020. {{ISBN|9781101871331}}
[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/692649/ends-of-the-earth-by-neil-shubin/ Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future]. New York: Dutton, 2025. {{ISBN|9780593186527}}

References

External links

[http://www.booktalk.org/your-inner-fish-by-neil-shubin-f85.html Online reading group discussion of Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish"]
[http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/8008 Video (and audio) of interview/discussion about "Wet Paleontology" with Neil Shubin] and Carl Zimmer on Bloggingheads.tv
{{youTube|id=2qTarQaUlqM|title=Lecture (presentation) by Neil Shubin about the discovery of Tiktaalik}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20210306122725/https://www.cc.com/video/xgsf42/the-colbert-report-neil-shubin Neil Shubin on The Colbert Report. Jan 14, 2008]
{{youTube|id=zFS-jtQ5IGg|title=Neil Shubin Lecture on "Your Inner Fish" at The University of Texas}}
[https://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/ PBS website for 'Your Inner Fish' series]

Category:20th-century American biologists

Category:American paleontologists

Category:American science writers

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni

Category:American evolutionary biologists

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

Category:University of Chicago faculty

Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty

Category:University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology faculty

Category:1960 births

Category:Living people