Lorenzo Rook

Biography

Lorenzo Rook graduated in Geological Sciences at the Florence University in 1989 and in 1993 discussed a PhD thesis in Palaeontology of evolutionary history of canidae. From 1995 he has been a researcher at the Earth Sciences Dept. at the Florence University. In January 2000 he obtained the certification for Associate Professor at the University of Bari and from September of the same year he was contracted at the Faculty of Mathematics, Phisics and Natural Sciences of the University of Florence for teaching the Vertebrate Paleontology within the "Course of Degree "in Natural Sciences. Since 2010 is Full Professor in Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Florence, Italy. Rook is the author of more than seventy scientific papers. The level of quality of his researches has been emphasized by national and international rewards. For 1997/98 he received the award "G. Dal Piaz" (given by the Italian Geological Society). Within the ESF (European Science Foundation, Strasbourg) he was a member of the Co-ordination Committee of the Triennial Network (1995-1998) "Hominoid evolution and environmental changes in the Neogene of Europe". He is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Quaternary Mammal Research Association. He co-ordinates research activities and projects awarded by private and public National (CNR; MURST / MIUR; Florence University) and International (NATO; Leakey Foundation; Wenner-Gren Foundation; National Geographic Society) Agencies and Institutions.

Research Interest

His activity is focused on different subjects either as a field study (survey and excavations) in Neogene and Quaternary fossiliferous sites and successions in fossils (analytical descriptions of fossils, studies of functional morphology, reconstruction evolutionary history of carnivora and primates) Italy, Africa and South America.