User:Mangofish05/sandbox

Life and Education
Valentina Karatajūtė-Talimaa (7 December 1930 – 2 August 2022 ) was a Lithuanian geologist and paleontologist.

'''Valentina born on December 7, 1930, was a prominent figure in the world of vertebrate fossils. Her career and contributions earned her recognition as a giant in the study of vertebrate paleontology. Valentina grew up in Lithuania in the small town of Ukmergė where she discovered her interest in paleontology at an early age. After finishing secondary school she had originally wanted to study architecture so she could discover the beauty of the world and nature, but her brother convinced her that if that were the case, studying geology would better fulfill this dream. In addition to this Karatajūtė-Talimaa was also inspired by the work of another female paleontologist Irina Yakovlev's and her husband Vladimir. Karatajūtė-Talimaa began her journey in paleontology at Vilnius University in Lithuania from 1949 to 1954, where she studied under the mentorship of Juozas Dalinkevičius who was known as the father of Lithuanian paleontology. '''

'''After graduating from Vilnius University she then joined a post-graduate study at the Moscow Paleontology Institute where she got to further pursue her growing interest in vertebrate paleontology and sharpen her skills. Karatajūtė-Talimaa embarked on a lot of fieldwork throughout the former USSR under Dalinkevičius and then after the separation she went all over the world. She was a firm believer that a paleontologist who only theorized and did not do fieldwork views were worth very little. In addition to her scientific accomplishments Karatajūtė-Talimaa devoted lots of her time into raising her son and daughter, who both eventually became concert-performing musicians. Valentina Karatajūtė-Talimaa eventually passed away on August 2nd of 2022 at the age of 91, cause of death is not documented.'''

Career
With her education under her belt in 1958 Karatajūtė-Talimaa went back to Vilnius, to the Institute of Geology and Geography at the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences, where she went on expeditions collecting remains of early Paleozoic ichthyofauna and discovered some of their features. 'In 1967 she cowrote and published a paper to the prestigious Linnaean Society of the United Kingdom, about Ludlow–Lower Devonian vertebrate fauna and correlation in East Europe, then in 1976 she turned this research into the monograph The Silurian and Devonian Thelodonts of the USSR and Spitsbergen''. Karatajūtė-Talimaa eventually had to defend her own thesis in Geology and Mineralogy (now Doctor Ha-bilitatis in Natural Sciences) Then from 1976 and on Karatajūtė-Talimaa became involved with the IGCP projects where she got to travel to Germany, Canada, Britain, Australia, and many more places collecting materials and being involved in project discussions. She developed her palaeohistological method for vertebrate skeletons (1988) so well it led to her receiving many samples from both colleagues and young researchers Eventually Karatajūtė-Talimaa wrote a reference text on the biostratigraphy''' of the Devonian and Silurian strata, utilizing the lodonts as index fossils. Karatajūtė-Talimaa participated in many paleontological and geological expeditions over her decades long career. Her most notable discoveries include the Antiarchi, Thelodonts and Chondrichthyes, primarily found in northern Eurasia. Her most recent discovery was the description of a new Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian vertebrate order, that eventually became distinguished after a new dentinous tissue that didn't have dentine canals. Over her career, Karatajūtė-Talimaa identified over 100 new species and helped describe a higher taxa, her expansive research is covered under her 180+ scientific articles. A few examples of her described taxa:
 * Altholepis Karatajute-Talimaa, 1997
 * Altholepis composita Karatajute-Talimaa, 1997

Awards/Accomplishments
-On October 12, 2002 Karatajūtė-Talimaa became a honorary member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Lithuanian Geological Society.

-The Presidium of the Lithuanian Academy of sciences awarded Karatajūtė-Talimaa the Academician Juozas Dalinkevičius Prize in April of 2003 for her contributions towards research in Lithuanian stratigraphy, and research on the oldest Paleozoic vertebrates.  (cite #3)

-Valentina was also a recipient of The Golden Hammer, which is an award for her accomplishments in the field of geological sciences.

-Karatajūtė-Talimaa illustrious career continues to inspire and contribute a significant amount to the scientific community.

- Discovered over 100 different new species over the course of her career 

'''- Wrote and published 14 different papers along with finishing and publishing the Thelodonti with the help of Susan Turnerand and Tiiu Märss in the multivolume universal monograph Handbook of Palaeoichthyology. '''