Nicholas Hotton III

Who was Nicholas Hotton III?

Nicholas Hotton III was an American paleontologist renowned as an expert on dinosaurs and reptiles.

He was born in Michigan and was educated at the University of Chicago, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in geology and a Ph.D. in paleozoology. Dr. Hotton taught anatomy at the University of Kansas from 1951–1959, before joining the staff of the Smithsonian Institution in 1959, initially as an Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and later as the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology for the National Museum of Natural History. In addition to administering collections at the National Museum, Dr. Hotton taught a course in vertebrate paleontology at George Washington University. Much of his work focused on dicynodonts, a group of mammal-like reptiles that lived in the Permian and Triassic Periods. Dr. Hotton remained at the Smithsonian until his death aged 78, from colon cancer.