Jenny Clack facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jenny Clack FRS FLS
Born	Jennifer Alice Agnew (1947-11-03)3 November 1947
Died	26 March 2020(2020-03-26) (aged 72)
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Newcastle University (BSc, PhD) University of Leicester University of Cambridge (MA)
Known for	Gaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods (2002)
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology Palaeontology Evolutionary biology
Institutions	Cambridge University Museum of Zoology University of Cambridge Darwin College, Cambridge

Jennifer Alice Clack (born Agnew; 3 November 1947 – 26 March 2020) was an English scientist. She studied fossils (a palaeontologist) and how living things change over time (an evolutionary biologist). She was an expert on the early evolution of tetrapods. These are animals with four limbs, like amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Jenny Clack focused on the "fish to tetrapod" transition. This means she studied how fish evolved into the first four-legged land animals. She also looked at their relatives, the lobe-finned fishes. Her most famous work is her book, Gaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods. It was first published in 2002 and was written for everyone to understand.

Clack worked as a curator at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. She was also a Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Cambridge. She spent her career studying how tetrapods first developed. These animals are thought to have evolved from Devonian lobe-finned fishes. They then started living in the freshwater swamps of the Carboniferous period.

Early Life and Education

Jenny Clack was born on 3 November 1947. Her parents were Ernest and Alice Agnew. She grew up in Manchester, England. She attended Bolton School (Girls' Division).

She earned a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Zoology in 1970. This was from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1978, she started her Ph.D. at the same university. She completed her doctorate in 1984. She also had a certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. Later, she earned a Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Cambridge. In 2000, she received a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree from Cambridge.

Discoveries and Career

In 1981, Jenny Clack joined the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. She started as an Assistant Curator. She became a Senior Assistant Curator in 1995. From 2005, she was the Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the museum. In 2006, she became a Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology. She retired in 2015 and became an Emeritus Professor.

Clack is famous for her work on early tetrapods. Her research changed how scientists understood the evolution of limbs. She also studied other features that helped tetrapods move from water to land. She first focused on the ears of early tetrapods. Later, she studied their bones and how they evolved more broadly.

Jenny Clack and Michael Coates helped define "Romer's Gap". This was a big missing part in the fossil record of early tetrapods. Clack then worked with other scientists to help fill this gap.

Fieldwork and Important Fossils

Clack also went on many fieldwork trips to find new fossils. In 1987, she led an expedition to East Greenland. Her team found the remains of two Devonian tetrapods: Acanthostega and Ichthyostega. They followed notes from earlier researchers. In 1998, more surveys led to finding Ymeria.

More recently, she led a big project called TW:eed. This project looked at new fossils from Northumberland and Scotland. These fossils are from the earliest Carboniferous period. This work has greatly improved our understanding of early tetrapod evolution.

Key Findings on Toes

One of Clack's most famous discoveries was about the number of toes on early tetrapods. The first tetrapods had more than five toes per foot. For example, Ichthyostega had seven toes. Acanthostega had eight toes. This showed that having five toes (called pentadactyly) was not always how tetrapods started. It evolved later.

Publications and Influence

Jenny Clack published her research in top scientific journals. These include Nature and Science. She published over 15 papers in Nature alone. Besides her book Gaining Ground, she also co-wrote other books.

She guided many students who became successful paleontologists. In 2012, she was featured in the BBC show Beautiful Minds. This show highlighted scientists who made important discoveries.

Death

Jenny Clack passed away on 26 March 2020. She was 72 years old.

Awards and Honours

Jenny Clack received many important awards for her work.

• In 2008, she won the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal. This award is from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She was the first woman to receive it.
• In 2009, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honour in science. She was the first female vertebrate paleontologist to achieve it.
• In 2013, the University of Chicago gave her an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree. They called her "an internationally preeminent palaeontologist".
• In 2014, she received another honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Leicester. She also became an Honorary Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• In 2018, she won the Palaeontological Association's top award, the Lapworth Medal.