Profession palaeontologist

Palaeontologists research and analyse forms of life that existed in ancient eras of the planet Earth. They strive to define the evolutionary path and the interaction with different geological areas of all kinds of once organisms and such plants, pollen and spores, invertebrate and vertebrate animals, humans, traces such as footprints, and ecology and climate.

Personality Type

• Investigative / Realistic
• Realistic / Investigative

Knowledge

• Scientific research methodology

  The theoretical methodology used in scientific research involving doing background research, constructing an hypothesis, testing it, analysing data and concluding the results.

• Geological time scale

  System of chronological measurement dividing geologic history into several temporal divisions and subdivisions that take ancient life, geography, and climates into account.

• Geographic information systems

  The tools involved in geographical mapping and positioning, such as GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), and RS (remote sensing).

• Geology

  Solid earth, rock types, structures and the processes by which they are altered.

• Scientific modelling

  Scientific activity consisting in selecting the relevant aspects of a situation and aiming to represent physical processes, empirical objects and phenomena to allow a better understanding, visualisation or quantification, and to enable simulation that shows how this particular subject would behave under given circumstances.

• Paleontology

  The field of science that studies fossils' ecologies, their evolution and interaction with other organisms, and the environment during period beginning approximately 11,700 years ago up to the present.

Skills

• Apply scientific methods

  Apply scientific methods and techniques to investigate phenomena, by acquiring new knowledge or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.

• Perform scientific research

  Gain, correct or improve knowledge about phenomena by using scientific methods and techniques, based on empirical or measurable observations.

• Write scientific papers

  Present the hypothesis, findings, and conclusions of your scientific research in your field of expertise in a professional publication.

• Use geographic information systems

  Work with computer data systems such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB