Angela Cheryl Milner | |
|---|---|
 Angela Milner(right) withBaryonyx walkeri(left) | |
| Born | Angela Girven (1947-10-03)3 October 1947 Gosforth, England |
| Died | 13 August 2021(2021-08-13) (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | Newcastle University |
| Spouse | Andrew Milner |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Vertebrate paleontology |
| Institutions | Natural History Museum, London, UK |
| Doctoral advisor | Alec Panchen |
Angela Cheryl Milner (3 October 1947 – 13 August 2021) was a Britishpaleontologist who, in 1986 alongsideAlan Charig, described the dinosaurBaryonyx.
Milner was born Angela Girven inGosforth, daughter of Cyril and Lucia Girven. Her father was the county engineer forNorthumberland. She attendedNewcastle upon Tyne Church High School. She initially planned to focus on microbiology for her university degree, but inspiring lectures from Alec Panchen made her change to palaeontology.[1] She gained aBSc in zoology atNewcastle University and stayed there in 1969 to take aPhD in palaeontology supervised by Panchen focusing on thenectrideans, a group ofPaleozoictetrapods.[2]
Milner was first employed at theNatural History Museum in London in 1976. Her unusual career path led her to reach a management as well as scientific role, finally being promoted to Assistant Keeper of Palaeontology as well as being a senior scientist.[1] She was Head of the Fossil Vertebrates Division in the Department of Palaeontology and was scientific leader behind the new Dinosaur Gallery at the museum that opened in 1992.[1] She retired in 2009.
Her primary work was early tetrapods, the subject of her doctorate. Her most significant scientific work was on description of the fossilised remains ofBaryonyx walkeri, a fish-eating dinosaur.[2] This was found in a clay-pit in Surrey and was the most complete dinosaur skeleton identified in the UK to that date. It provided the key to interpretation of further dinosaur fragments discovered around the world to start a new research area in palaeontology.[1] She continued to work on meat-eating dinosaurs, and the earliest birds that had descended from them, for the rest of her career. In 2004 she led a study of the brain ofArchaeopteryx, providing evidence to suggest the species was a bird. She also studied bird species from theEocene period which are found in the southernEngland.[3][2] She appreciated how the new technology ofCT-scanning could be used to visualise the interior of fossils in details, which led to the installation of a suitable machine at the museum. In addition, she began to collaborate with others to isolate proteins from fossil in the new field ofmolecular palaeontology.[2] Milner undertook field work in the UK and abroad in several locations including the US, the Sahara desert and, from the 1980s, China.[2]
The dinosaursVeterupristisaurus milneri,Riparovenator milnerae andPendraig milnerae have been named after her.[2][4][5]
She married Andrew Milner in 1972 whilst they were postgraduate students.[2][6] Milner died on the morning of 13 August 2021, at the age of 73, following a short illness.[7][8][9]
Milner is the author or co-author of over 60 scientific publications. She continued to publish after her retirement and up to her death. Her publications include:
She was co-author ofThe Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs.[10]
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