Paleontology Funding/Spending Amounts

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Just to get 1996 off on the right foot, I thought I'd start the new year on
PaleoNet with an item that came up in a conversation I had with a colleague
some months ago at the New Orleans GSA Meeting. After bemoaning the current
state of funding for Paleo. to each other I speculated that paleontologists
have been somewhat lax about cashing in on the obvious popular fascination
for fossils among the general public by preferring to ask governments for
their research dollars. True, my friend, replied, there was much more that
we could be doing by getting out there and rubbing shoulders with the
public a little more. However, he doubted that sums of money sufficient to
cover current levels of paleo. support could be raised that way.
Personally, I don't buy the idea that paleo. funding has to be based on an
either/or formula and I am continually impressed by the amounts of money
the Dinosaur Society is able to make available to SVP to fund research at
both the student and professional levels. However, my friend's comment made
me realize that I really had no idea of how much money was being spent per
annum on paleontological research by NSF, NERC, the EC, or anyone else for
that matter. Of course, this figure is going to vary depending on how you
define paleontological research. So, for the sake of argument, let's say
that projects in which paleontological information is the primary focus
"count" whereas projects in which paleontological data is used for another
purpose (e.g., stratigraphic correlation, paleoceanography, climate change)
are excluded. Does anyone out there have any idea of how much it costs
governments to maintain this type of paleontological research at current
levels? In addition, does anyone have any idea how much is spent by the
public on paleontology-related products and activities each year?


Norm MacLeod



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Norman MacLeod
Senior Scientific Officer
N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk (Internet)
N.MacLeod@uk.ac.nhm (Janet)

Address: Dept. of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum,
         Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD

Office Phone: 0171-938-9006
Dept. FAX:  0171-938-9277
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