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Jack Horner (1956)close

Born in Shelby, Montana, Jack Horner found his first dinosaur fossil at the age of 8. Although he wasn't an outstanding student in school, he excelled at science projects. After spending time in the US Marine Corps, he went to college and discovered his love for fossils and paleontology. Although he studied for seven years, he was unable to get a college degree, and discovered that his academic difficulties were caused by a learning disability--dyslexia. By this time, however, he was a working paleontologist at Princeton University. Today he is the curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Montana, and served as the model of the scientist Alan Grant in the movie Jurassic Park.

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