Kirk Johnson Speaks at Assembly

"I am basically a large kid," Kirk Johnson announced at the beginning of his assembly on Friday. Johnson, the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the host of PBS Nova series "Making North America," delivered an impassioned presentation featuring anecdotes and discoveries from years of traveling and excavating. At the end of his talk, students rose for a standing ovation.As a paleontologist, Johnson has led expeditions around the globe. His work in 11 countries and 19 states has resulted in the discovery of more than 1,400 fossil sites. In conjunction with his scientific inquiries, Johnson also oversees more than 145 million artifacts—more than at any other museum—as the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. During his assembly, Johnson shared his research on fossilized plants and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Through his work, he hopes to preserve relics of the past while opening a window to the future. "I wanted to get people really excited about the fact that the Earth has an interesting past, and for me fossils are my tool to make the past seem interesting," Johnson said in a later interview. "People have a tendency to think the past has happened and it's old, it's dusty, it's boring, but no. There's amazing stuff there—stuff that can help you think about the future, too." In particular, one aspect of the past that Johnson showcased was climate change. "The climate has changed, and we know that. We are presently changing the climate. People know about global warming, but they probably don’t know that global warming has a history," Johnson said. Johnson thinks that learning about the history of global warming will help people understand it and subsequently “strengthen our ability to deal with it.”To present the importance of fossils in reimagining the world, Johnson featured several drawings of the earth based on knowledge gained from recently-discovered fossils. One example he exhibited was a present-day coal mine reimagined as a swamp. “With nothing more than a shovel and a mind, you can time travel,” said Johnson. In addition to imagining the past, Johnson believed that fossils could be used to open the future. He revealed that a new exhibit at the Smithsonian, set to open on June 8, 2019, will display this idea of going back to the past to envision the future. Johnson believes that the next 100 years are arguably the most important on Earth and that the clues to deciphering that future lie in the past. “Usually when you go to a fossil exhibit, it is old stuff, and that is it. But this exhibit is going to end in the future,” said Johnson.Johnson came to Exeter after senior Abby Clyde, a family friend, reached out to him. "I took an Earth science class in the fall where we were talking about fossils, and it got me thinking about bringing Kirk here,” Clyde said. “I’ve known him for a long time and he’s a super dynamic speaker. I thought kids here would like him and obviously they really did.” As Clyde had predicted, students were enthralled by Johnson's presentation. "I think it was the fact that he was talking about a completely different subject matter: natural history. A lot of our assembly speakers lately have been about social justice or race relations, which is really important,” lower Aiwen Desai said. “But it was cool to have something different.” His career was a point of interest for several Exonians. "I think he was very good at speaking and making his career sound interesting, which is something that not a lot of assembly speakers do,” lower Pepper Pieroni said. “I think that he showed the practicality of what he does, and I think it’s a job that not a lot of people hear about or think about.” In fact, one of Johnson's goals was to educate students on various career possibilities they may have been unfamiliar with. "People are always like ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do, I don’t know what the options are.’ But I present sort of an unusual option. I’m not a university professor, I’m not a business person, I’m a museum director," Johnson said in an interview with The Exonian. "I wouldn’t mind if I got people thinking, 'Oh, there’s another path!' I think the jobs of the future are going to be complex and interesting and different from what they are now."Johnson succeeded in captivating his audience. "Out of all of the assemblies I have been to, it was surprising how quickly the audience stood to give him a standing ovation," prep Nam Nguyen said.