Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan | |
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 West Coast Fossil Park Tour, 2009 | |
| Born | Anusuya Chinsamy (1962-08-27)27 August 1962 (age 63) |
| Education | PhD. (1991), UHED (1985) BSc.Hons (1984), BSc. (1983), |
| Alma mater | University of Witwatersrand University of Durban-Westville |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | paleontology |
| Institutions | University of Cape Town |
| Thesis | The osteohistology of femoral growth within a clade: a comparison of the Crocodile Crocodylus, the dinosaurs Massospondylus and Syntarsus, and the birds Struthio and Sagittarius (1991) |
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan (born August 27, 1962)[1] is aSouth African vertebratepaleontologist known for her expertise and developments in the study of the microstructure of fossil teeth and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates.[2] She was the head of the Department of Biological Sciences (originally the Department of Zoology), at theUniversity of Cape Town from 2012 to 2015 .[3]
Chinsamy-Turan received a B.Sc. from theUniversity of Witwatersrand in 1983 and a B.Sc. Honours in 1984, a U.H.D.E. (University Higher Diploma in Education) from theUniversity of Durban-Westville (now calledUniversity of Kwazulu-Natal) in 1985, and a Ph.D. (1991) from Witwatersrand. She then proceeded to do a postdoctorate at theUniversity of Pennsylvania (1992–1994).
She is the author of six books; two academic works,The Microstructure of Dinosaur Bone - Deciphering Biology Through Fine Scale Techniques, published in 2005, by theJohns Hopkins University Press andForerunners of Mammals -Radiation. Biology published by theIndiana University Press in 2012; a children's book,Famous dinosaurs of Africa, published in 2008, and a popular level book,Fossils For Africa, published in 2014 byCambridge University Press. Her two most recent books (2021) are for children and are entitled "Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric life" and " African Dinosaurs".
Chinsamy-Turan won "Distinguished Women Scientist Award" from theSouth African Department of Science and Technology in 2002, and won the "South African Woman of the Year Award" in 2005. TheNational Research Foundation of South Africa awarded her its "President's Award" in 1995 and the "Transformation Award" in 2012.[4]
In 2013, she wonThe World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Sub-Saharan Prize for the Public Understanding and Popularization of Science.[5]
Lokotunjailurus chinsamyae now has a sabre-tooth cat species named after her.[6]
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