Diego Pol

Diego Pol (born 23 June 1974, Rosario) is an Argentine paleontologist, specialized in Mesozoic era dinosaurs of Patagonia. He is a principal researcher of CONICET at the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio in Trelew. He is notable for his contributions to the discovery and naming of several dinosaur species, such as Lorosuchus, Manidens, Glacialisaurus, Eoabelisaurus, and others.

Biography

Diego Pol was born on 23 June 1974 in Rosario, Argentina, but moved to Buenos Aires in his childhood. He studied at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires and in 1999 graduated with a degree in Biological Sciences from the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires.

In 1999, he moved to New York City, United States, where he obtained a master's degree and a PhD in a joint program of the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University. His PhD thesis focused on the evolution of basal dinosaurs and Mesozoic crocodyliforms, under the supervision of Dr. M. A. Norell. This dinosaur, Patagotitan mayorum, was featured in the 2016 documentary Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur, where Pol appeared alongside David Attenborough and Ben Garrod.

That same year, he was one of the four winners of the 2013 Bernardo Houssay Award presented by the Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, given to researchers under 45.

In 2023 he received the Konex Foundation Platinum Konex Award for his work in Paleontology over the last decade.

He is also deputy editor of Ameghiniana, the bimonthly publication of the Argentine Paleontological Association.

Selected publications A selection of Diego Pol's most cited publications: Turner, A. H., Pol, D., Clarke, J. A., Erickson, G. M., & Norell, M. A. (2007). A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight. Science, 317(5843), 1378–1381. Buckley, G. A., Brochu, C. A., Krause, D. W., & Pol, D. (2000). A pug-nosed crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Nature, 405(6789), 941. Pol, D. (2003). New remains of Sphagesaurus huenei (Crocodylomorpha: Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23(4), 817–831.