User:Abyssal/William J. Morris

William J. Morris is an American geologist and former professor. He holds the record for discovering the largest number of dinosaur specimens on the west coast of North America. Many of his finds were made in Baja California. Among his discoveries there were new species of bird, crocodilians, dinosaurs, lizards, and turtles.

Morris was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1923. From 1942 to 1945 he served in the United States Army. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1948 with a B.A. degree. He attended graduate school at Princeton University and earned his M.A. a year later. In 1950 he earned his Ph.D. After graduating he was employed as an associate geology professor at Texas A & M University. In 1955 he departed Texas A & M and joined Occidental College as a full geology professor. In 1957 he became a vertebrate paleontology research associate of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Morris played a major role instigating paleontological fieldwork in Baja California. He attracted funding from the National Geographic Society. In 1968 the Society awarded Morris the Arnold Guyot Award. Morris was also honored as a fellow of the Geological Society of America. From 1958 to 1970, Morris was the director of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Morris is also known for his work on the Mesozoic reptiles of California.

https://www.academia.edu/1393371/Prieto-Marquez_A._and_Wagner_J._R._2012._Saurolophus_morrisi_a_new_species_of_hadrosaurid_dinosaur_from_the_Late_Cretaceous_of_the_Pacific_coast_of_North_America._Acta_Palaeontologica_Polonica._doi_10.4202_app.2011.0049