Dougal Dixon | |
|---|---|
 Dougal Dixon in 2009 with a model of a "Strida", one of the creatures featured in his 2010 book Greenworld | |
| Born | 1 March 1947 Dumfries, Scotland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of St Andrews |
| Known for | After Man Foundation of the speculative evolution movement Palaeontology and geology books |
| Spouse | Jean Dixon (m. 1971) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | See text |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology Palaeontology |
| Website | www |
Dougal Dixon (born 1 March 1947) is a Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, educator and author. Dixon has written well over a hundred books on geology and palaeontology, many of them for children, which have been credited with attracting many to the study of the prehistoric animals. Because of his work as a prolific science writer, he has also served as a consultant on dinosaur programmes.
Dixon graduated from the University of St. Andrews with a Master of Science in 1970 and has since then worked in a variety of occupations, including as a geological consultant, tutor and teacher, a practical geologist on geological expeditions and as a civilian instructor for the Air Training Corps, a British volunteer-military youth organisation. At present, he lives in Wareham, Dorset, where he works as a full-time author and book editor and also manages a local movie theatre.
Dixon is most famous for his 1980/90s trilogy of speculative evolution books: After Man (1981), The New Dinosaurs (1988) and Man After Man (1990). These books use imagined future and alternate animals to explain various natural processes, including evolution, natural selection, zoogeography and climate change. Through these books, Dixon is often recognised as the founder of the modern speculative evolution movement, an artistic and scientific movement focused on speculative paths in the evolution of life. Dixon has contributed to the movement following the publication of his trilogy, for instance publishing the book Greenworld in 2010 and serving as a consultant and contributor to the 2002 miniseries The Future is Wild.