COMMENT Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925–2015) Discoverer of early .

uch of what we know about programmes worldwide. the origin and early evolution For a discipline built mainly on the of mammals stems, directly or study of teeth and jaw fragments, Mindirectly, from the work of Zofia Kielan- Kielan-Jaworowska’s discoveries were Jaworowska. Her greatest achievement a game-changer. Because of their stun- was the collection of amassed by ning completeness, the species she pains- several Polish–Mongolian expeditions to takingly collected and described have the Gobi Desert (1963–71), which she led. become points of reference in the study of She also discovered species of crocodile, early mammals. Multituberculates, early lizard, turtle, and . rodent-like forms, are abundant and well The Gobi specimens, which include represented in the collections. In collabo- skulls and skeletons, are unprecedented ration with French and British colleagues, in their variety, number and complete- Kielan-Jaworowska sectioned two skulls, AKADEMII NAUK POLSKIEJ PALEOBIOLOGII INSTYTUT ness. Kielan-Jaworowska spent half a of and , century describing and interpreting providing details of cranial vasculature, them while forging scientific exchange innervation and the brain itself. from Poland through the Iron Curtain. The Gobi specimens underscored the The fossils altered views on mamma- fact that new fossils can upend decades lian history, and stimulated discoveries of entrenched wisdom. Deltatheridium, around the world. for example, found in the 1920s, was long Kielan-Jaworowska, who died on thought to have been a peculiar sort of 13 March, came of age in war-torn East- placental (the group that domi- ern Europe. Born in 1925 in the town of nates today). Her specimens showed that Sokołów Podlaski in east-central Poland, it is actually closely related to marsupials. she spent most of her formative and profes- expeditions. Kielan-Jaworowska, who had Kielan-Jaworowska set into motion a sional years in Warsaw. With higher educa- long been interested in vertebrates (reading remarkable new age of exploration and dis- tion banned and punishable by at the as a student at the Zoological Museum library, covery. Palaeontologists have continued to hands of the Nazi occupiers, she enrolled in miraculously spared from wartime damage), exploit the fossil-rich Gobi Desert and else- clandestine classes at the University of War- was aware of the Gobi Desert’s dinosaur and where; breathtakingly complete and saw. She also served as a medic from age 15 in other vertebrate fossils, thanks to legendary specimens (including hair) have the Polish resistance until the Warsaw Upris- discoveries made in the 1920s. Fate put her in been recovered from Liaoning, China. ing of 1944 and the subsequent levelling of the the right place at the right time. Zofia made the most of her 89 years, city by retreating Nazi forces. Equipment and supplies to sustain a field continuing with research well after her In 1945, Kielan-Jaworowska joined the party of 20 for 3 months were shipped to Ulan retirement from the PAN. In 2004, she pub- Zoological Museum in Warsaw as a volun- Bator, Mongolia’s capital, before each field sea- lished Mammals From the Age Of teer, helping with its post-war restoration. son. Polish–Mongolian parties made several (co-authored by Zhe-Xi Luo and me; Colum- Here she came under the influence of lead- spectacular discoveries of Late Cretaceous bia Univ. Press), a widely used reference book. ing invertebrate palaeontologist Roman vertebrates (about 80 million to 75 million She made substantial contributions as editor Kozłowski, who supervised her master’s years old) in the Nemegt Basin, including the of the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, degree, awarded in 1949, and her doctoral ‘fighting dinosaurs’ (a kick-boxing Velocirap- often helping developing-world scientists to work, completed in 1952, at the University of tor locked in a death pose with a plant-eating publish their research. Warsaw. Her early research, which continued ), the awesome forelimbs of Zofia spurred everyone to do their best. into the 1960s, concerned trilobites and sea Deinocheirus (an ostrich dinosaur) and the She was a peerless role model. Apart from her worms, marine fossils from the Palaeozoic mammal specimens she would go on to study. intellectual prowess, she will be remembered era (541 million to 252 million years ago). Nothing stood between Kielan-Jaworowska most for her indomitable spirit. Her style was, Sea worms have complex and delicate jaws, and her work: in 1971, having suffered a rup- at times, unapologetically exacting — an previously known from isolated fragments: tured eardrum during a Gobi sandstorm, she apprenticeship with her was akin to martial- using innovative techniques, she was able to travelled back to Warsaw for surgery, and then arts training with a Buddhist monk — but prepare complete specimens. returned immediately to resume field work. she pushed the rest of us to reach for better Kielan-Jaworowska’s formidable research As fossils from the expeditions came science. We will miss her. ■ and leadership abilities led to her appoint- pouring in, she navigated cold-war road- ment in 1961 as director of the pre-eminent blocks to establish ties with leading Western Richard L. Cifelli is curator of vertebrate Institute of Paleobiology in Warsaw, part of scholars, notably those in Britain, France palaeontology at the Sam Noble Museum, the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). By and the United States, anticipating political Norman, Oklahoma, USA. He collaborated coincidence, as she was assuming director- glasnost (openness) by a good two decades. extensively with Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska ship, the PAN established a cooperative agree- She built a science network from her hub in from 1998 onwards. ment with Mongolia for palaeontological Warsaw, with spokes running to research email: [email protected]

158 | NATURE | VOL 520 | 9 APRIL 2015 © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved