Riley Black

Riley Black
EducationRutgers University
OccupationsPaleontologist and science writer
Known forAuthor of natural history books and articles
AwardsNCSE Friend of Darwin award (2024); AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books (2023)

Riley Black is an American paleontologist and science writer. She is the author of several natural history books such as When the Earth was Green and The Last Days of the Dinosaurs. She has consulted on the Jurassic World franchise and starred in multiple paleontology documentaries.

Biography

Black studied Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rutgers University. She began her career as a science writer by launching the blog Laelaps and eventually branched out to write columns for a number of popular periodicals.

Black said that she wants everyone to learn from the experts and embrace the sciences, regardless of educational background.

She is an author. Her books include When the Earth was Green (released in 2025), The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Skeleton Keys, and My Beloved Brontosaurus.

Black was hired as "resident paleontologist" for the 2015 film Jurassic World. She is a regular guest on the radio show/podcast Science Friday and have starred in the 2022 documentaries Alaskan Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Apocalypse. She also gives lectures and talks on a regular basis, and was the opening speaker at the 82nd annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

In 2019, she came out publicly as transgender and non-binary and started hormone replacement therapy. In the journal Nature, she remarked that “palaeontology presents queer people with terrain as challenging as any fossil-flecked desert.” She also said that the field has been healing.

Reception

Publishers Weekly praised her work on Last Days of Dinosaurs as “top-drawer science writing” that carefully explains to the reader the myriad ways in which scientists reach her conclusions. Booklist said "her work vividly provides the deep knowledge necessary—knowledge of geology, evolution, ecology, paleontology, and more—to understand and appreciate the history and future of life on our planet." In 2023, she won an award for Excellence in Science Books from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Bibliography

Books

References

  1. ↑ "Friend of Darwin and Friend of the Planet Awards ceremony 2024 | National Center for Science Education".
  2. ↑ "The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World".
  3. 1 2 3 Black, Riley (2019). "Queer voices in palaeontology". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02113-6. PMID 32620880. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "Articles by Riley Black from Smithsonian Magazine". Smithsonian Magazine.
  5. 1 2 3 "About Riley". Riley Black. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Riley Black — Museum of the Earth". Museum of the Earth. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  7. ↑ Tripathy-Lang, Alka (2024-07-25). "Riley Black: Bringing fossils to life". Eos (American Geophysical Union). Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  8. ↑ The King's English Bookshop. "Riley Black & Dallin Kohler, Tuesday Jul 8th, 2025". King’s English. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  9. ↑ Horan, Richard (March 7, 2025). "Earth's green evolution gave rise to everything from dinosaurs to dandelions". CSMonitor. Retrieved 2025-07-01.
  10. ↑ "Riley Black". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  11. ↑ "Riley Black". Science Friday. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  12. ↑ Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. "Future/Past Meetings". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Archived from the original on 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  13. ↑ "Riley Black". Geobiology & Geomicrobiology Division. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  14. ↑ Frantz, Carie (July 2020). "Riley Black - info and affiliations". Geological Society of America, Geobiology & Geomicrobiology Division. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  15. ↑ "The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World [book review]". Publishers Weekly. 269 (4): 45.
  16. ↑ Kendall, George (January 1–15, 2025). "When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance [book review]". Booklist. 121 (9/10): 11 – via Academic Search Complete (EBSCO).
  17. ↑ "Subaru of America and AAAS Announce Winners of 2023 Prize for Excellence in Science Books | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)". American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Archived from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2026-02-21.