Halszka Osmólska

Early life, family and education

Osmólska was born in 1930 in Poznań. In 1949, she began to study biology at Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the University of Poznań. Thereafter, she studied at the University of Warsaw, graduating in 1955.

Career

Osmólska worked at the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Between 1983 and 1988, she served as the institute's director.

She was a member of the Polish–Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi Desert (1963–1965, 1967–1971), and she described many finds from these rocks, often with Teresa Maryańska.

Among the dinosaurs she described:

Deinocheirus (1967), with Ewa Roniewicz

Gallimimus (1972), with Roniewicz and Rinchen Barsbold

Pachycephalosauria (1974), with Maryańska

Bagaceratops (1975), with Maryańska

Barsboldia (1981), with Maryańska

Elmisaurus (and Elmisauridae) (1981)

Hulsanpes (1982)

Borogovia (1987)

Bagaraatan (1996)

Homalocephale, with Maryańska

Prenocephale, with Maryańska

Tylocephale, with Maryańska

Goyocephale (1982), with Maryańska and Altangerel Perle

Tochisaurus (1991), with Kurzanov

Nomingia (2000), with several others

Her other work included discussions of the paleobiology of hadrosaurids, and co-editing the two editions of The Dinosauria.

She is recognised for her work in the names of the Mongolian oviraptorid Citipati osmolskae, the Chinese dromaeosaurid Velociraptor osmolskae, the Mongolian dromaeosaurid Halszkaraptor escuilliei, the archosauriform reptile Osmolskina czatkowicensis, and the Polish Pliocene lagomorph Prolagus osmolskae.

Osmólska was, in recognition of her scientific work, a recipient of a number of awards including the Polish Cross of Merit.

Selected publications

H. Osmólska and E. Roniewicz (1970). Deinocheiridae, a new family of theropod dinosaurs. Palaeontologica Polonica 21:5-19.

H. Osmólska, E. Roniewicz, and R. Barsbold (1972). A new dinosaur, Gallimimus bullatus n. gen., n. sp. (Ornithomimidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Palaeontologia Polonica 27:103-143.

H. Osmólska (1972). Preliminary note on a crocodilian from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Palaeontologia Polonica 27:43-47.

T. Maryańska and H. Osmólska (1974). Pachycephalosauria, a new suborder of ornithischian dinosaurs. Palaeontologia Polonica 30:45-102.

T. Maryańska and H. Osmólska (1975). Protoceratopsidae (Dinosauria) of Asia. Palaeontologica Polonica 33:133-181.

H. Osmólska (1976). New light on the skull anatomy and systematic position of Oviraptor. Nature 262:683-684.

H. Osmólska (1981). Coossified tarsometatarsi in theropod dinosaurs and their bearing on the problem of bird origins. Palaeontologica Polonica 42:79-95.

T. Maryańska and H. Osmólska (1981). First lambeosaurine dinosaur from the Nemegt Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mongolia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 26(3-1):243-255.

T. Maryańska and H. Osmólska (1981). Cranial anatomy of Saurolophus angustirostris with comments on the Asian Hadrosauridae (Dinosauria). Palaeontologia Polonica 42:5-24.

H. Osmólska (1982). Hulsanpes perlei n.g. n.sp. (Deinonychosauria, Saurischia, Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte 1982(7):440-448.