About Professor Gerta Keller
Professor Gerta Keller in the atrium of Guyot Hall, with an Allosaurus dinosaur excavated during a 1941 dig.
Photo by Peter Murphy.
Gerta Keller is Professor of Paleontology and Geology in the Geosciences Department of Princeton University since 1984. She was born in Schaan, Liechtenstein and grew up in Switzerland. She is a citizen of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United States of America. She received a B.S. degree from San Francisco State University in 1973 and a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in 1978. Since 1984 she has been Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University.
Recent Publications
The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs
Uncover the Truth That Shook the Scientific World
For decades, the prevailing theory behind the demise of the dinosaurs has pointed to a cataclysmic asteroid impact. But what if the accepted truth is a carefully constructed façade, designed to bury a discovery that fundamentally alters our understanding of Earth's history and its future?
In The Last Extinction, Dr. Gerta Keller, a renowned paleontologist at Princeton University, unveils the compelling, meticulously researched science behind her world-shattering discovery: the dinosaurs' extinction was not caused by an asteroid. Instead, the real culprit was a series of colossal volcanic eruptions on the Indian subcontinent, an event that unleashed unimaginable quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, triggering a rapid and devastating climate shift.
Pre-order your copy of The Last Extinction today and join Dr. Keller in uncovering the real science behind one of Earth's greatest mysteries – a truth that illuminates our past and warns us about our future.
Reviews of The Last Extinction
"Scathing and illuminating. . . . [M]uch of the scientific community and the popular press accepted the idea that a meteor colliding with the Earth was responsible for the planet’s fifth mass extinction. Keller, however, had her doubts, and worked tirelessly to gather data. . . . Her results are shocking."
–Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
"Gerta Keller . . . is rattling the foundations. And the theory she supports . . . has unleashed a small tempest of its own among die-hard believers in the meteor theory, who are known as 'impacters.' . . . Keller argues that, besides a series of meteor impacts, the extinction of the dinosaurs was preceded by an intense period of volcanic eruptions that altered the climate. . . . All this makes her a maverick."
–The New York Times
"A Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid, but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she's reopened that debate. . . . This dispute illuminates the messy way that science progresses and how this idealized process, ostensibly guided by objective reason and the search for truth, is shaped by ego, power, and politics."
–The Atlantic
In The News
Multiple evidence reveals the killing mechanism for the mass extinction 66 m.y. ago began 25,000 years earlier with the onset of cataclysmic Deccan volcanic eruptions in India that caused hyperthermal warming, mercury toxicity, ocean acidification and acid rain on land.
A Princeton geologist Gerta Keller has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate.
Everyone knows the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid — but there were also mega volcanos erupting at the exact same time. What exactly killed the dinosaurs? It's a mystery. Features interviews with Gerta Keller and Jahnavi Punekar.
