In recent years, holoptera fossils have been found in the rocks formed 400 million years ago in the east of China. In memory of Professor Yang, the founder of vertebrate paleontology in China, it was named juvenile fish, which has many similarities with fanfin. Traditionally, it should have an internal nostril. Professor Zhang Miman, a famous paleoichthyologist in China, made a detailed study on the snout of Young's fish by using the method of continuous slicing, and found that there was no internal nostril in the mouth of Young's fish. All finned fish found in China have no internal nostrils. So, does the total fin fish found abroad really have internal nostrils as the predecessors said? With this question, she re-observed the slices made by Professor Jarvik and made a detailed study of similar fossils collected in Britain, Germany and France. She found that they were all similar to Yang's fish. On the symbols of the true palm fin fish described by Aristotle, the position of the inner nostril is not complete, and some of them have not even been preserved. Therefore, all the pictures drawn by Aristotle are "restored", which shows that the authenticity is not strong. Therefore, people have made a big question mark on whether the fan-fin fish has internal nostrils.
Quadrupeds breathe with their lungs. Therefore, it must have an inner nostril communicating with the outer nostril, so that the outside air can smoothly enter the lungs and ensure the animal's need for oxygen. Professor Zhang Miman's achievements made by Yang's Fish Research Institute in Yunnan, China, denied the traditional view that fan-fin fish had internal nostrils, thus fundamentally shaking the position of whole-fin fish as the ancestor of quadrupeds. This is a real challenge to the traditional theory of the origin of quadrupeds since this century, which has caused great shock in the geological and paleontological circles all over the world.
Of course, in order to solve the problem of the origin of quadrupeds, in addition to in-depth study of ancient ichthyology, the study of modern biology is also very important. For example, the study of modern quadrupeds and the protein molecular sequence of modern lungfish and broad-headed fish may provide some more important clues.
The article "She is Fascinated by Fossils" written by Rex Dalton reports the academic career of Zhang Miman, a famous paleontologist and academician of China Academy of Sciences. It is a rare precedent for the article in Nature to introduce scientists' achievements, but it is the first time for the article to introduce individual scientists in China, at least as far as the author knows.
Academician Zhang Miman is a researcher at the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an internationally renowned paleoichthyologist. She is the president of the International Society of Paleontology, and an honorary member of the vertebrate paleontology Society in North America and the Linnaeus Society in Britain. The following is based on the abstract of She is Fascinated with Fossils, and some inaccuracies in the original text have been corrected.
The desert environment in Mesa, Arizona, USA is not an ideal place to talk about fish and water. However, last autumn, paleontologists from all over the world gathered in the lecture hall of a conference center there to celebrate and commend the academic career of a scientist who has been studying ancient oceans and ancient fish all his life.
This honorary symposium was organized by the vertebrate paleontology Society in North America to commemorate Academician Zhang Miman, one of the best paleontologists in China and former director of the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her work helps to clarify the connection between fish that lived in the ocean 400 million years ago and air-breathing land animals that evolved from the ocean. At the age of 69, she has played a vital role in attracting scientific attention to the little-known fish fossils in China for many years.
Academician Zhang Miman's academic career is far from smooth sailing. Due to the political changes in her motherland, she has achieved a series of successes and faced many difficulties. Nevertheless, her enthusiasm for studying fish fossils never waned. "I'm still digging and collecting fish fossils," she said with a smile in an interview at a hotel in inland Arizona.
Academician Zhang's father is an excellent physiologist. He hoped his daughter would become a doctor, but her love for the motherland made her choose to study geology. In the early 1950s, in order to find mineral resources for the motherland, she and a group of aspiring young people went to Beijing Institute of Geology to study. Shortly after entering school, she was chosen to stay in the Soviet Union, and 1960 graduated from Moscow University. After returning to China, he was assigned to vertebrate paleontology Institute of Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for research. 1965, Academician Zhang Miman was selected to study in the Swedish National Museum of Natural History (Stockholm), one of the important paleontology research centers at that time. Professor Schultz, a postdoctoral fellow from Germany to the National Museum of Natural History in Sweden, recalled his days with Zhang Miman and said: The fish fossils collected from the devonian period formation in Yunnan Province brought by Miman challenged the traditional view of the phylogenetic relationship between lungfish and bearded fish held by Stansiu, the originator of the Swedish school at that time. Jarvik even jokingly called it a "devilish fish".
It's a pity that China returned to China at the beginning of 1967 shortly after the Cultural Revolution began, which delayed the research of Academician Zhang Miman for more than ten years. When she was able to return to Sweden in the late 1970s to complete her research work and publish her achievements in the early 1980s, she still had an important influence on the research fields of quadruped origin, morphology, phylogeny and biogeography of ancient fish.
Academician Zhang Miman's current work focuses on the trans-Pacific distribution pattern of fish fossils since Cretaceous. The trans-Pacific distribution of fish reached its peak in Eocene between 34 million and 56 million years ago. Since then, many species have become extinct in Asia, but survived in America. Academician Zhang said: "It is very exciting to trace the origin and distribution of these fish." Professor Vodelin, a senior researcher at the Swedish National Museum of Natural History, was also a graduate student in Sweden when Academician Zhang Miman returned to China to study in the late 1970s. He said: "Her unpretentious style makes her data more credible. She won't speak outside the evidence, and she never exaggerates. So, you believe what she says. "
Zhang's contribution to paleontology in China is recognized. From 1983 to 1990, she served as the director of the Institute of vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology of Chinese Academy of Sciences for two consecutive years. During her tenure as director, she actively improved the living and working conditions of researchers. She has been tirelessly teaching others, always putting the cultivation of talents first, and is deeply loved by young students. For example, one of her graduate students, Zhou Zhonghe, first studied fish fossils in the Jehol biota in western Liaoning, and later found bird fossils in the wild. Therefore, he proposed to Academician Zhang Miman, then the director, to change the research direction. At that time, this was taboo; However, considering the work needs of the institute and the potential of Zhou, Zhang made an exception and approved it. Now, the young man's research on bird fossils in Jehol biota has attracted great attention at home and abroad. At first, this seems to be an unremarkable research turn, but it paved the way for China to become the main force of paleontology research. Soon, top paleontologists from all over the world came to China.
Although colleagues often talk about Zhang's gentle and enthusiastic side, everyone knows that she also has "iron blood" and a strong side. In the interview, whenever a reporter asked about her grades, she always avoided talking about it, but attributed her grades to her students and colleagues. Fortunately, her students and colleagues will publish papers from the seminar as a way to record her academic contributions.