Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
Born	(1962-08-27) 27 August 1962 (age 62)
Nationality	South African
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

Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a South African vertebrate paleontologist known for her expertise and developments in the study of the microstructure of fossil teeth and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates.^[1] She was the head of the Department of Biological Sciences (originally the Department of Zoology), at the University of Cape Town from 2012 to 2015 .^[2]

Education and career

Chinsamy-Turan received a B.Sc. from the University of Witwatersrand in 1983 and a B.Sc. Honours in 1984, a U.H.D.E. (University Higher Diploma in Education) from the University of Durban-Westville (now called University of Kwazulu-Natal) in 1985, and a Ph.D. (1991) from Witwatersrand. She then proceeded to do a postdoctorate at the University 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 the Johns Hopkins University Press and Forerunners of Mammals -Radiation. Biology published by the Indiana 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 by Cambridge University Press. Her two most recent books (2021) are for children and are entitled "Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric life" and " African Dinosaurs".

Awards

Chinsamy-Turan won "Distinguished Women Scientist Award" from the South African Department of Science and Technology in 2002, and won the "South African Woman of the Year Award" in 2005. The National Research Foundation of South Africa awarded her its "President's Award" in 1995 and the "Transformation Award" in 2012.^[3]

In 2013, she won The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Sub-Saharan Prize for the Public Understanding and Popularization of Science.^[4]

Lokotunjailurus chinsamyae now has a sabre-tooth cat species named after her.^[5]

Selected publications

• Chinsamy, A, Buffetaut, E, Angst, D., Canoville, A. 2014. Insight into the growth dynamics and systematic affinities of the Late Cretaceous Gargantuavis from bone microstructure. Naturwissenschaften 101:447-452
• Chinsamy, A., Chiappe, L., Marugán-Lobón, J., Chunling, G. and Fengjiao, Z. 2013. Gender Identification of the Mesozoic bird Confuciusornis sanctus. Nature Communications.
• Chinsamy, A. Thomas, D. B., Tumarkin-Deratzian, A. & A. Fiorillo. 2012. Hadrosaurs were perennial polar residents. Anatomical Record, 295 (4): 551–714.
• Jasinoski, S.C. and A. Chinsamy. 2012. Mandibular histology and growth of the non-mammaliaform cynodont Tritylodon. Journal of Anatomy, 220 (6): 564–579.
• Cerda, I. A. & Chinsamy. 2012. Biological Implications of the bone microstructure of the Late Cretaceous ornithopod dinosaur Gasparinisaura cincosaltensis. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32(2):355-368.
• Chinsamy, A., Codorniu, L. and L. Chiappe. 2009 The Bone Microstructure of Pterodaustro guinazui. Anatomical Record 292: 1462–1477.
• Chinsamy, A., and Tumarkin-Deratzian, A. 2009. Pathological bone tissue in a turkey vulture and a nonavian dinosaur. Anatomical Record 292: 1478-1484

External links

• Website at University of Cape Town Archived 15 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Publications by Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan at ResearchGate

References

1. "Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan". Biological Sciences - UCT. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
2. "Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan | Department of Biological Sciences". www.botany.uct.ac.za. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
3. "Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan". University of Cape Town. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
4. "Dinosaurs: How we know what we know – Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan". Cape Town Science Centre.
5. Brits, Elsabé (7 September 2023). "Sabre-tooth cat named after renowned scientist". Nature Africa. doi:10.1038/d44148-023-00231-y.