For 65 million years, Tyrannosaurus rex lay petrified under the earth, until Barnum Brown—fossil collector, oil consultant, onetime spy, and world-famous paleontologist with immaculate style—uncovered them at Montana’s Hell Creek Formation in 1902.

While Tyrannosaurus rex is perhaps his most famous discovery, Brown was one of the most prolific dinosaur collectors ever. He died in 1963, but as dinosaur paleontologist Lowell Dingus, co-author of Barnum Brown, explains in this interview with WILL-AM’s Focus radio show, he shipped 1,200 crates of fossils back from his worldwide expeditions, and there are still boxes and boxes waiting to be opened.

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