G. Arthur Cooper

Gustav Arthur Cooper, known as G. Arthur Cooper, was an American paleobiologist who lived from 1902 to 2000 and dedicated his career to advancing invertebrate paleontology and stratigraphy. His doctoral dissertation, on the stratigraphy of the Hamilton Group of New York, established his early expertise in geological layering and fossil analysis. He spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution own Division of Invertebrate Paleontology, serving as curator and eventually senior paleobiologist and becoming a leading expert in the field. His honors included the Mary Clark Thompson Medal in 1957 and the Paleontological Society Medal in 1964. He received the Penrose Medal in 1983.