American botanist and paleontologist (1915-1984).
Elso Sterrenberg Barghoorn (June 30, 1915 – January 22, 1984) was an American paleobotanist, called by his student Andrew Knoll, the present Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard, "the father of Pre-Cambrian palaeontology." Barghoorn is best known for discovering in South African rocks fossil evidence of life that is at least 3.4 billion years old. These fossils show that life was present on Earth comparatively soon after the Late Heavy Bombardment (about 3.8 billion years ago). Barghoorn was born in New York City. After graduating from Miami University with a BSc and an MSc in biolo
Abbreviations: Bargh.
Occupations: university teacher, paleontologist, botanist, botanical collector
Citizenships: United States
Languages: English
Dates: 1915-06-30T00:00:00Z – 1984-01-27T00:00:00Z
Birth place: New York City
Direct attributions: 2 plants, 4 fungi
Authorship mentions: 2 plants, 4 fungi