Sue Hendrickson facts for kids

Susan Hendrickson (born December 2, 1949) is an American explorer and fossil collector. She is famous for finding the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur ever known. She discovered it in South Dakota on August 12, 1990. This amazing dinosaur skeleton is now called "Sue" in her honor. You can see it on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Susan has also found many other important fossils and ancient artifacts all over the world.

Growing Up and Early Adventures

Susan Hendrickson was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her family soon moved to Munster, Indiana, where she spent her childhood. She had an older brother, John, and a younger sister, Karen. Her father worked for the railroad, and her mother worked for American Airlines.

Susan was a good student when she was young. But she soon found school in Munster a bit boring. At 16, she moved to Florida to live with her aunt. There, she started high school in Fort Lauderdale. Susan was an adventurous teenager. She decided to leave high school at 17 to explore different places. She eventually settled back in Florida.

Becoming a Diver

In Florida, Susan found a job with two professional divers. They ran a business selling aquarium fish. Susan was a strong swimmer. She quickly learned how to dive. She began collecting tropical fish from the Florida Keys. These fish were sold to people who kept aquariums and to pet stores.

Besides diving for fish, Susan also worked as a lobster fisherman for part of the year. Sometimes, she would take summers off. During these breaks, she volunteered on fossil digs. Later, she moved to Seattle. She earned her GED, which is like a high school diploma. She thought about studying marine biology at the University of Washington. But she decided to go back to Florida to continue her diving career.

Exploring the World: Susan's Career

By 1963, Susan had many friends in the diving world. One day, she was invited to join a special diving trip. This trip was to recover valuable materials from a cargo ship. The ship had gotten stuck on a coral reef off the Florida Keys. She loved this work and eagerly joined.

Discovering Shipwrecks and Amber

As she continued her salvage diving, Susan started exploring old shipwrecks. She later traveled to the Dominican Republic. She loved working with archaeologists there. She became fascinated by the country and visited it often.

In the mid-1980s, Susan also tried mining for Dominican amber in the Dominican mountains. Amber is fossilized tree resin. She became one of the biggest suppliers of amber for scientists. During her amber mining, Susan found three perfect 23-million-year-old butterflies. These rare finds make up half of all the world's known fossilized butterflies! Even though the work was hard, she kept studying paleo entomology. This is the study of ancient insects. She became an expert at identifying fossilized insects.

The amazing T. rex skeleton, "Sue," discovered by Susan Hendrickson.

Finding the Famous T. rex

Susan met a Swiss paleontologist named Kirby Siber. He invited her to join his team. This team included paleontologists Carlos Martin and Peter Larson. They started digging for baleen whale fossils in Peru. These fossils were found in an ancient seabed from the Miocene epoch. Susan joined the team for several summers. She helped discover fossilized dolphins, seals, and sharks.

Later, she went with Peter Larson to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota. By this time, finding fossils had become her main passion. On August 12, 1990, she was exploring a cliff-side in South Dakota. She was with a team from the Black Hills Institute. That day, she made an incredible discovery. She found a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton! It was the largest, most complete, and best-preserved T. rex ever found. This amazing dinosaur was later named "Sue" in her honor.

Underwater Archaeology

In 1992, Susan joined a team of marine archaeologists. This team was led by Franck Goddio. With them, she took part in many diving expeditions. Some of the most famous ones included exploring the Royal Quarters of Cleopatra. She also helped find Napoleon Bonaparte's lost fleet from the Battle of the Nile.

Awards and Later Life

In 2005, Glamour magazine honored Susan Hendrickson. They gave her an award in their "Glamour Woman of the Year Awards." In 2001, she wrote a book about her life. It was called Hunt for the Past: My Life as an Explorer. In 2008, she was featured in the "Dare to Explore" chapter of National Geographic Kids.

Susan Hendrickson now lives on the island of Guanaja, off the coast of Honduras. She is a member of several important groups. These include the Paleontological Society and The Explorers Club. In 2000, she received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

See also

In Spanish: Sue Hendrickson para niños