Douglas A. Lawson

Who is Douglas A. Lawson?

Douglas A. Lawson is a geologist, paleontologist, and computer scientist.

In 1971, Lawson discovered a partial wing of what he later named Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur, in Texas' Big Bend National Park. Lawson found the remains of the giant pterosaur while searching for the bones of titanosaur sauropods such as Alamosaurus. At the time of reporting of its discovery Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying creature known.

A fellow researcher challenged Lawson's estimates of Quetzalcoatlus' wing architecture dimensions. Lawson responded by demonstrating that, while his estimates were inconsistent with those of modern-day birds, they were, in fact, consistent with extrapolations of other pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus antiquus.

Lawson’s discovery of the remains of Quetzalcoatlus northropi caused scientists to rethink both the evolution of flight and the habitats of giant fliers.

In 2010, the U.S. National Park Service describes Quetzalcoatlus as the world's second largest known flying creature. Lawson appears in Sir David Attenborough's motion picture documentary, Flying Monsters 3D, discussing Quetzalcoatlus' impressive wingspan and how estimates of that wingspan changed over time.