Professor Michael Archer AM, FAA, Dist FRSN (born 1945, Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian paleontologist specialising in Australian vertebrates. He is a professor at the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales. His previous appointments include Director of the Australian Museum 1999–2004[1] and Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales 2004–2009.[2]
Archer was born in Sydney but raised in the United States and studied at Princeton University. From 1972 to 1978, he was the curatorofmammals at the Queensland Museum.[3] Since 1983, he has been involved with the exploration of the Riversleigh fossil site in Queensland.[4]
He is opposed to creationism and regularly engages in active debates with creationists.
During his time as director of the Australian Museum, he was the initiator of attempts to clone the Thylacinus cynocephalus, the Tasmanian tiger, an animal extinct since 1936.[5][6] Archer has stated that he is obsessed with bringing the thylacine back to life via cloning. He has said that his obsession is going to push the research further and further until he and his team will have their first living thylacine clone.[7]
In 2011, Archer published an article asserting that a vegetarian diet causes more suffering and deaths of animals than an omnivorous diet based on sustainable husbandry.[8]
Archer is married to the paleontologist Suzanne Hand, with whom he has two daughters.
But if you want to minimise animal suffering and promote more sustainable agriculture, adopting a vegetarian diet might be the worst possible thing you could do.
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