2000 - 04/2000 Meeting

Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Update: 10/25/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/09/08

PAUL NASH

Paul Nash is a past president of the New York Paleontological Society and is employed at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: April 8, 2000.

Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 29.

Meeting Program: Slide Show & Talk by Paleoentomologist.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2000 Philip J De Parto:

...Guest speaker Paul Nash has worked at the Museum of Natural History for three years and is a past president of the New York Paleontological Society. His specialty is prehistoric amber and the insect and plant life trapped within it.

Amber is essentially petrified tree sap. Under the proper conditions it becomes buried and subjected to physical changes which cause it to harden and become a type of naturally occurring plastic. Anything trapped within the amber can be perfectly preserved for many millions of years.

Amber deposits can be found in many parts of the world, with one of the best treasureloads being found in New Jersey. The oldest amber goes back 130 million years ago to the early Cretaceous Period.

Mr Nash's slide show consisted of prehistoric insects and other plants and creatures trapped and preserved in amber. Some of the slides were of breathtaking beauty, looking like the work of an artist producing a delicate painting. The slides were accompanied by a friendly and encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, and of the prehistoric life and of what the future may hold in store for paleontology.