Sue Hendrickson
| Susan Hendrickson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 2, 1949 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Residence | Guanaja, Honduras |
| Fields | Vertebrate paleontology, paleoentomology, marine archaeology |
| Known for | Discovery of "Sue," the largest T. rex specimen ever found |
Susan "Sue" Hendrickson (born December 2, 1949) is an American paleontologist. Hendrickson is best known for her discovery of the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex in South Dakota on August 12, 1990. Her discovery was the largest specimen of a T. rex found and one of the most complete skeletons. This skeleton is now known as "Sue" in honor of her discovery. It is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. She has also found other important fossils and artifacts around the world.
Hendrickson was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Lee and Mary Hendrickson; her family soon moved to nearby Munster, Indiana, where she grew up. She has two siblings: a younger brother, John, and her younger sister, Karen. Her father was a successful railroad purchasing agent, while her mother worked at American Airlines.
In 1955, Hendrickson was enrolled at Munster's public elementary, frequently being praised by her teachers as "a good student and obedient child." However, she eventually found herself bored with school in Munster, and at age 16 was able to convince her parents to let her stay with her aunt in Florida, where she enrolled at a Fort Lauderdale high school. An adventurous and rebellious teenager, Hendrickson never completed high school, dropping out at the age of 17 in favor of moving from state to state with her boyfriend before settling in Florida, where she was hired by two professional divers who owned an aquarium fish business. A strong swimmer who had once been on her high school's swim team, Hendrickson quickly learned to dive and began collecting tropical fish off the Florida Keys to sell to aquarists and pet stores.
Aside from her work as a diver, Hendrickson also worked part of the year as a lobster fisherman, and would occasionally take the summer off to volunteer on paleontological digs. She later moved to Seattle, earned her GED, and considered enrolling at the University of Washington in order to pursue a marine biology degree, but decided against it, leaving Seattle after a year and moving back to Florida to continue her diving career.
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