Doctor Who actor Tom Baker has been honored by scientists who named a 450 million-year-old trilobite after him.
- Australian experts name newly discovered species ‘Gravicalimen bakeri’
- The specimen was found in a preserved condition in a shale rock in northern Tasmania
- Both experts say they were inspired to study science by seeing Dr. Hu
- Mr Bucker said he was “delighted” to have the creature recognized.
As Dr. Hu, Tom Baker fought Daleks and cybermen, robot mummies and Gothic monsters – but his latest ‘animal traits’ have taken the form of praise.
In honor of the actor, Australian paleontologists named a newly-discovered trilobite species – the uninhabited sea creature 450 million years ago.
Trilobites are loosely shaped like wood – and their closest living relatives include lobsters, crabs and scorpions ions that became extinct about 251.9 million years ago.
Gravicalaemen bakeri – a fossil dating to the late Ordovician period – was found in shale rocks in northern Tasmania.
Mr Bucker said he was “delighted” to name the specimen.
Researchers – Patrick Smith of the Australian Museum and Maltese Ibach of the University of New South Wales – say the physicians inspired their scientific careers.
Australian experts have named a newly discovered trilobite species – a segmented sea creature 450 million years ago, left – in honor of Dr. Hu actor Tom Baker
‘I’m glad I finally got it. Will I be allowed to use “fossils” in official letters? ‘Mr Baker joked.
‘I hope so [Doctor] Who World will celebrate this fresh honor and spread the word to those who live in remote areas. ‘
“Good day to all the fans everywhere.”
The naming of the fossil is not limited to Mr. Baker’s immortality of stone – the 1977 physician Who Serial the Face of Evil compared him to a stone carving on the side of a hill.
Dr. Smith said, ‘I’m not old enough to remember Tom Baker’s episodes
‘However, after growing up in adolescence when the series was rebroadcast in the early 2000’s, I religiously followed the show and was convinced that a career in science was guaranteed to improve the world.’
‘In particular, it inspired me to study the concept of time – as doctors travel with time.’
‘Therefore, the field of science that I have specialized in is biostreography, which is related to the age of the earth and its rocks.’
The newly identified specimen is unusual, as trilobites were prevalent in Australia throughout the Ordovician period, and Gravicalimen bakeri belong to a group that has not previously been discovered on the continent.
Illustrated here as an example – the fossil ‘Gravicalimen bakeri’ was found preserved in rock shells in northern Tasmania after the late Ardovician period.
The naming of the fossil is not limited to Mr. Baker’s immortality in stone – the 1977 Doctor Who Serial The Face of Evil illustrates his metaphor carved in stone on a mountainside near the village of Sebtem.
Researchers – Patrick Smith of the Australian Museum and Maltese Ibach of the University of New South Wales – say the physicians inspired their scientific careers. Illustrated, Tom Baker poses with a group of deluxe campaigners in 1975, dressed as a doctor.
“It was the character of Dr. Hu – and especially actor Tom Baker – that inspired me to discover the natural world,” Dr. Abach added.
‘So, it is a pleasure to name Trilobite in his honor. My brother-in-law even knitted a replica doctor who wore a scarf on this occasion, ’he concluded.
In Alcheringa: The full results of this study were published in the Australasian Journal of Paleontology.
The fossil Graviclimen bakeri – fossils found in the Sher rocks in northern Tasmania – dates from the late Ordovician period to the present day.
Tom Baker in Doctor
Illustrated, Tom Baker as ‘Doctor’
Tom Baker played Dr. Hu from 1974–1981.
He starred in 173 television episodes from John Partway at the end of The Planet of the Spiders serial.
Journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) and her comrades-in-arms with the robotic dog K-9 (voiced by John Lyson and David Brackielli) joined her journey through time and space.
Baker’s bombastic figure is probably best known for his unusually long scarf and jelly kids love.
His adventures – ranging from gothic-themed B-movie pastics to comedians influenced by script editor Douglas Adams – saw Doctor face off against Dalits, robot mummies, killer plants and vampires ahead of time.
He left the show at the conclusion of Logopolis (replaced by Peter Davidson), an adventure in which Doctor Fellow Time Lord Master (played by Anthony Ainley) fell from a radio telescope after saving the universe after saving it. )
In a September 2020 Radio Times poll, Tom Baker’s performance was led by the ‘classic’ doctor who led it – and was the fifth most liked actor in the role.
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