Dr. Kirk Johnson is the Sant Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where he oversees the world’s largest natural history collection. The Museum hosts more than 6 million visitors each year. In 2017, its scientists published over 760 scientific research papers and named 300 new species. In 2019, the museum will open its largest renovation, The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils-Deep Time. This exhibition will interpret the history of life on Earth and address its relevance to the future of humanity.

Before his arrival at the Smithsonian in 2012, Johnson was a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science who led expeditions in 18 states and 11 countries. His research focuses on fossil plants and the extinction of the dinosaurs. In 2011, he led an ice age excavation in near Snowmass Village in Colorado that recovered parts of more than fifty mastodon skeletons. He is known for his scientific articles, popular books, museum exhibitions, documentaries, and collaborations with artists.

His recent documentaries include the three-part NOVA series Making North America and The Great Yellowstone Thaw, which aired on PBS channels in 2015 and 2017, respectively. He is presently working on a documentary about the ancient climate of the Arctic and Antarctic. His latest book, Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline, The Travels of an Artist and a Scientist along the Shores of the Prehistoric Pacific explores the deep history of the West Coast from California to Alaska.

Johnson is originally from Bellevue, Washington, has a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in geology and paleobotany from Yale University. He completed postdoctoral research at the University of South Australia, worked as a marine geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and served as a Crosby lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Article

• Johnson, Kirk R., Owens, Ian F. P., and Global Collection Group. 2023. "A global approach for natural history museum collections." Science, 379, (6638) 1192–1194. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf6434. 2023
• Kipp, Michael A., Stüeken, Eva E., Strömberg, Caroline A. E., Brightly, William H., Arbour, Victoria M., Erdei, Boglárka, Hill, Robert S., Johnson, Kirk R., Kvaček, Jiří, McElwain, Jennifer C., Miller, Ian M., Slodownik, Miriam, Vajda, Vivi, and Buick, Roger. 2023. "Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N2-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages." Nature Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02251-1. 2023
• Maccracken, S. Augusta, Miller, Ian M., Johnson, Kirk R., Sertich, Joseph M., and Labandeira, Conrad C. 2022. "Insect herbivory on Catula gettyi gen. et sp. nov. (Lauraceae) from the Kaiparowits Formation (Late Cretaceous, Utah, USA)." Plos One, 17, (1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261397. 2022
• Butrim, Matthew J., Royer, Dana L., Miller, Ian M., Dechesne, Marieke, Neu-Yagle, Nicole, Lyson, Tyler R., Johnson, Kirk R., and Barclay, Richard S. 2022. "No Consistent Shift in Leaf Dry Mass per Area Across the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary." Frontiers in Plant Science, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.894690. 2022
• Wilf, Peter, Wing, Scott L., Meyer, Herbert W., Rose, Jacob A., Saha, Rohit, Serre, Thomas, Cúneo, N. Rubén, Donovan, Michael P., Erwin, Diane M., Gandolfo, Maria A., Gonzalez-Akre, Erika, Herrera, Fabiany, Hu, Shusheng, Iglesias, Ari, Johnson, Kirk R., Karim, Talia S., and Zou, Xiaoyu. 2021. "An image dataset of cleared, x-rayed, and fossil leaves vetted to plant family for human and machine learning." PhytoKeys, 187 93–128. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.187.72350. 2021
• Johnson, Kirk R. 2020. "Presentation of the 2019 Harrell L. Strimple Award of the Paleontological Society to James L. Goedert." Journal of Paleontology, 94, (5) 1015–1015. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2020.55. 2020
• Fuentes, Anthony J., Clyde, William C., Weissenburger, Ken, Bercovici, Antoine, Lyson, Tyler R., Miller, Ian M., Ramezani, Jahandar, Isakson, Vincent, Schmitz, Mark D., and Johnson, Kirk R. 2019. "Constructing a time scale of biotic recovery across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, Corral Bluffs, Denver Basin, Colorado, U.S.A." Rocky Mountain Geology, 54, (2) 133–153. https://doi.org/10.24872/rmgjournal.54.2.133. 2019
• Lyson, T. R., Miller, I. M., Bercovici, A. D., Weissenburger, K., Fuentes, A. J., Clyde, W. C., Hagadorn, J. W., Butrim, M. J., Johnson, K. R., Fleming, R. F., Barclay, R. S., Maccracken, S. A., Lloyd, B., Wilson, G. P., Krause, D. W., and Chester, S. G. B. 2019. "Exceptional continental record of biotic recovery after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction." Science, 366, (6468) 977– . https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay2268. 2019
• Erdei, Boglárka, Coiro, Mario, Miller, Ian, Johnson, Kirk R., Griffith, M. Patrick, and Murphy, Vickie. 2019. "First cycad seedling foliage from the fossil record and inferences for the Cenozoic evolution of cycads." Biology Letters, 15, (7). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0114. 2019
• Hagen, Eric R., Royer, Dana L., Moye, Ryan A., and Johnson, Kirk R. 2019. "No Large Bias within Species between the Reconstructed Areas of Complete and Fragmented Fossil Leaves." Palaios, 34, (1) 43–48. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2018.091. 2019
• Kowalczyk, Jennifer B., Royer, Dana L., Miller, Ian M., Anderson, Clive W., Beerling, David J., Franks, Peter J., Grein, Michaela, Konrad, Wilfried, Roth-Nebelsick, Anita, Bowring, Samuel A., Johnson, Kirk R., and Ramezani, Jahandar. 2018. "Multiple Proxy Estimates of Atmospheric CO ₂ From an Early Paleocene Rainforest." Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 33, (12) 1427–1438. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018PA003356. 2018
• Clyde, William C., Ramezani, Jahandar, Johnson, Kirk R., Bowring, Samuel A., and Jones, Matthew M. 2016. "Direct high-precision U–Pb geochronology of the end-Cretaceous extinction and calibration of Paleocene astronomical timescales." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 452 272–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.07.041. 2016
• Stockey, Ruth A., Rothwell, Gar W., and Johnson, Kirk R. 2016. "Evaluating Relationships among Floating Aquatic Monocots: a New Species of Cobbania (Araceae) from the Upper Maastrichtian of South Dakota." International Journal of Plant Sciences, 177, (8) 706–725. https://doi.org/10.1086/688285. 2016
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Baysinger, Dave. 2016. "In his own words." Acta Geologica Polonica, 66, (4) III–XIII. https://doi.org/10.1515/agp-2016-0030. 2016
• DiEuliis, Diane, Johnson, Kirk R., Morse, Stephen S., and Schindel, David E. 2016. "Opinion: Specimen collections should have a much bigger role in infectious disease research and response." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113, (1) 4–7. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522680112. 2016
• Barclay, Richard S., Rioux, Matthew, Meyer, Laura B., Bowring, Samuel A., Johnson, Kirk R., and Miller, Ian M. 2015. "High precision U–Pb zircon geochronology for Cenomanian Dakota Formation floras in Utah." Cretaceous Research, 52A 213–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.08.006. 2015
• Pigati, Jeffrey S., Miller, Ian M., and Johnson, Kirk R. 2015. "The Snowmastodon Project: Cutting-edge science on the blade of a bulldozer." GSA Today, 25, (9). https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG240GW.1. 2015
• Zaiss, Jessica, Ravizza, Greg, Goderis, Steven, Sauvage, Justine, Claeys, Philippe, and Johnson, Kirk R. 2014. "A complete Os excursion across a terrestrial Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at the West Bijou Site, Colorado, with evidence for recent open system behavior." Chemical Geology, 385 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.07.010. 2014
• Wilf, Peter, Escapa, Ignacio H., Cúneo, N. Rubén, Kooyman, Robert M., Johnson, Kirk R., and Iglesias, Ari. 2014. "First South American Agathis (Araucariaceae), Eocene of Patagonia." American Journal of Botany, 101, (1) 156–179. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1300327. 2014
• Pigati, Jeffrey S., Miller, Ian M., Johnson, Kirk R., Honke, Jeffrey S., Carrara, Paul E., Muhs, Daniel R., Skipp, Gary, and Bryant, Bruce. 2014. "Geologic setting and stratigraphy of the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, Snowmass Village, Colorado." Quaternary Research, 82, (3) 477–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2. 2014
• Donovan, Michael P., Wilf, Peter, Labandeira, Conrad C., Johnson, Kirk R., and Peppe, Daniel J. 2014. "Novel Insect Leaf-Mining after the End-Cretaceous Extinction and the Demise of Cretaceous Leaf Miners, Great Plains, USA." PLoS ONE, 9, (7) 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103542. 2014
• Blonder, Benjamin, Royer, Dana L., Johnson, Kirk R., Miller, Ian, and Enquist, Brian J. 2014. "Plant ecological strategies shift across the cretaceous-paleogene boundary." PLoS biology, 12, (9) 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001949. 2014
• Miller, Ian M., Pigati, Jeffrey S., Scott Anderson, R., Johnson, Kirk R., Mahan, Shannon A., Ager, Thomas A., Baker, Richard G., Blaauw, Maarten, Bright, Jordon, Brown, Peter M., Bryant, Bruce, Calamari, Zachary T., Carrara, Paul E., Cherney, Michael D., Demboski, John R., Elias, Scott A., Fisher, Daniel C., Gray, Harrison J., Haskett, Danielle R., Honke, Jeffrey S., Jackson, Stephen T., Jiménez-Moreno, Gonzalo, Kline, Douglas, Leonard, Eric M., Lifton, Nathaniel A. et al. 2014. "Summary of the Snowmastodon Project Special Volume : A high-elevation, multi-proxy biotic and environmental record of MIS 6–4 from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, Snowmass Village, Colorado, USA." Quaternary Research, 82, (3) 618–634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.07.004. 2014
• Wing, Scott L., Johnson, Kirk R., Peppe, Daniel J., Green, Walton A., and Taylor, David Winship. 2014. "The Multi-Stranded Career of Leo J. Hickey." Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 55, (2) 69–78. https://doi.org/10.3374/014.055.0201. 2014
• Johnson, Kirk R., Miller, Ian M., and Pigati, Jeffery S. 2014. "The Snowmastodon Project." Quaternary Research, 82, (3) 473–476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2013.12.010. 2014
• Clyde, W. C., Gingerich, P. D., Wing, Scott L., Röhl, U., Westerhold, T., Bowen, G., Johnson, Kirk R., Baczynski, A. A., Diefendorf, A., McInerney, F., Schnurrenberger, D., Noren, A., and Brady, K. 2013. "Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP): a continental perspective on early Paleogene hyperthermals." Scientific Drilling, 16 21–31. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-21-2013. 2013
• Ellis, Beth and Johnson, Kirk R. 2013. "Comparison of Leaf Samples from Mapped Tropical and Temperate Forests: Implications for Interpretations of the Diversity of Fossil Assemblages." Palaios, 28, (3) 163–177. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2012.p12-073r. 2013
• Carvalho, Mónica R., Wilf, Peter, Hermsen, Elizabeth J., Gandolfo, Maria A., Cúneo, N. Rubén, and Johnson, Kirk R. 2013. "First record of Todea (Osmundaceae) in South America, from the early Eocene paleorainforests of Laguna del Hunco (Patagonia, Argentina)." American Journal of Botany, 100, (9) 1831–1848. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1200637. 2013
• Archibald, S. B., Johnson, Kirk R., Mathewes, Rolf W., and Greenwood, David R. 2011. "Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278, (1725) 3679–3686. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0729. 2011
• Gandolfo, María A., Hermsen, Elizabeth J., Zamaloa, María C., Nixon, Kevin C., González, Cynthia C., Wilf, Peter, Cúneo, N. Rubén, and Johnson, Kirk R. 2011. "Oldest Known Eucalyptus Macrofossils Are from South America." PLoS ONE, 6, (6) e21084. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021084. 2011
• Peppe, Daniel J., Royer, Dana L., Cariglino, Barbara, Oliver, Sofia Y., Newman, Sharon, Leight, Elias, Enikolopov, Grisha, Fernandez-Burgos, Margo, Herrera, Fabiany, Adams, Jonathan M., Correa, Edwin, Currano, Ellen D., Erickson, J. Mark, Felipe Hinojosa, Luis, Hoganson, John W., Iglesias, Ari, Jaramillo, Carlos A., Johnson, Kirk R., Jordan, Gregory J., Kraft, Nathan J. B., Lovelock, Elizabeth C., Lusk, Christopher H., Niinemets, Uelo, Penuelas, Josep, Rapson, Gillian et al. 2011. "Sensitivity of leaf size and shape to climate: global patterns and paleoclimatic applications." New Phytologist, 190, (3) 724–739. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03615.x. 2011
• Wilf, Peter, Singer, Brad S., Zamaloa, María del Carmen, Johnson, Kirk R., and Cúneo, N. Rubén. 2010. "Early Eocene ⁴⁰ Ar/ ³⁹ Ar Age for the Pampa de Jones plant, Frog, and Insect Biota (Huitrera Formation, Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina)." Ameghiniana, 47, (2) 207–216. https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.v47i2.7. 2010
• Schulte, Peter, Alegret, Laia, Arenillas, Ignacio, Arz, Jose A., Barton, P. J., Bown, Paul R., Bralower, Timothy J., Christeson, Gail L., Claeys, Philippe, Cockell, Charles S., Collins, Gareth S., Deutsch, Alexander, Goldin, Tamara J., Goto, Kazuhisa, Grajales-Nishimura, Jose, Grieve, Richard A. F., Gulick, Sean P. S., Johnson, Kirk R., Kiessling, Wolfgang, Koeberl, Christian, Kring, David A., MacLeod, Kenneth G., Matsui, Takafumi, Melosh, Jay, Montanari, Alessandro et al. 2010. "The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary." Science, 327, (5970) 1214–1218. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177265. 2010
• Wilf, Peter, Little, Stefan A., Iglesias, Ari, del, Carmen Zamaloa, Gandolfo, María A., Cúneo, N. Rubén, and Johnson, Kirk R. 2009. "Papuacedrus (Cupressaceae) in Eocene Patagonia: A new fossil link to Australasian rainforests." American Journal of Botany, 96, (11) 2031–2047. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.0900085. 2009
• Sarzetti, Laura C., Labandeira, Conrad C., Muzón, Javier, Wilf, Peter, Cúneo, N. Ruben, Johnson, Kirk R., and Genise, Jorge F. 2009. "Odonatan endophytic oviposition from the Eocene of Patagonia: The ichnogenus Paleoovoidius and implications for dragonfly behavioral stasis." Journal of Paleontology, 83, (3) 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1666/08-121.1. 2009
• Iglesias, Ari, Wilf, Peter, Johnson, Kirk R., Zamuner, Alba B., Cúneo, N. Rubén, Matheos, Sergio D., and Singer, Bradley S. 2007. "A Paleocene lowland macroflora from Patagonia reveals significantly greater richness than North American analogs." Geology, 35, (10) 947. https://doi.org/10.1130/G23889A.1. 2007
• Stockey, R. A., Rothwell, G. W., and Johnson, Kirk R. 2007. "Cobbania corrugata gen. et comb. nov. (Araceae): a floating aquatic monocot from the Upper Cretaceous of western North America." American Journal of Botany, 94, (4) 609–624. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.94.4.609. 2007
• Raynolds, Robert G., Johnson, Kirk R., Ellis, Beth, Dechesne, Marieke, and Miller, Ian M. 2007. "Earth history along colorado's Front range: Salvaging geologic data in the suburbs and sharing it with the citizens." GSA Today, 17, (12) 4. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAT01712A.1. 2007
• Johnson, Kirk R. 2007. "Forests frozen in time." Nature, 447, (7146) 786–787. https://doi.org/10.1038/447786a. 2007
• Royer, Dana L., Sack, Lawren, Wilf, Peter, Lusk, Christopher H., Jordan, Gregory J., Niinemets, Ulo, Wright, Ian J., Westoby, Mark, Cariglino, Barbara, Coley, Phyllis D., Cutter, Asher D., Johnson, Kirk R., Labandeira, Conrad C., Moles, Angela T., Palmer, Matthew B., and Valladares, Fernando. 2007. "Fossil leaf economics quantified: calibration, Eocene case study, and implications." Paleobiology, 33, (4) 574–589. https://doi.org/10.1666/07001.1. 2007
• Sun, Ge, Arhmetiev, Mikhail A., Golovneva, Lina, Bugdaeva, Eugenia, Quan, Cheng, Kodrul, Tatyana M., Nishida, Harufumi, Sun, Yeuwu, Sun, Chunlin, Johnson, Kirk R., and Dilcher, David. 2007. "Late Cretaceous Plants from Jiayin along Heilongjiang River, Northeast China." Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 258 75–83. 2007
• Bogner, Josef, Johnson, Kirk R., Kvaček, Zlatko, and Upchurch, Garland R., Jr. 2007. "New fossil leaves of Araceae from the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene of western North America." Zitteliana, A47 133–147. 2007
• Gonzalez, Cynthia C., Gandolfo, Maria A., Zamaloa, Maria C., Cúneo, Nestor R., Wilf, Peter, and Johnson, Kirk R. 2007. "Revision of the Proteaceae Macrofossil Record from Patagonia, Argentina." Botanical Review, 73, (3) 235–266. https://doi.org/10.1663/0006-8101(2007)73[235:ROTPMR]2.0.CO;2. 2007

Book

• Johnson, Kirk R. and Bonnell, Mary Ann. 2021. Trees Are Made of Gas: The Story of Carbon and Climate. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. 2021
• Carrano, Matthew T. and Johnson, Kirk R. 2019. Visions of lost worlds: the paleoart of Jay Matternes. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books. 2019
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Troll, Ray. 2018. Cruisin' the fossil coastline: the travels of an artist and a scientist along the shores of the prehistoric Pacific. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing. 2018
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Clyde, Will. 2016. Ancient Wyoming: A Dozen Lost Worlds Based on the Geology of the Bighorn Basin. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing. 2016
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Miller, Ian. 2012. Digging Snowmastodon: Discovering an Ice Age World in the Colorado Rockies. Aspen: People's Press. 2012
• Ellis, B., Daly, D. C., Hickey, Leo J., Johnson, Kirk R., Mitchell, J. D., Wilf, Peter, and Wing, Scott L. 2009. Manual of Leaf Architecture. Cornell University Press. 2009
• Nichols, Douglas J. and Johnson, Kirk R. 2008. Plants and the K-T Boundary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2008
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Bonnell, Mary Ann. 2007. Gas Trees and Car Turds: Kid's guide to the roots of global warming. Golden, CO: Fulcrum. 2007
• Labandeira, Conrad C., Wilf, Peter, Johnson, Kirk R., and Marsh, F. 2007. Guide to Insect (and Other) Damage Types on Compressed Plant Fossils (version 3.0). Smithsonian Institution. 2007

Chapter

• Miller, Ian M., Johnson, Kirk R., Kline, Douglas E., Nichols, Douglas J., and Barclay, Richard S. 2013. "A LateCampanian Flora from the Kaiparowits Formation, Southern Utah, and a Brief Overview of the Widely Sampled but Little-Known Campanian Vegetation of the Western Interior of North America." In At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah. Titus, Alan L. and Loewen, Mark A., editors. 107–131. Indiana University Press. 2013
• Johnson, Kirk R. and Stucky, Richard Keith. 2013. "Paleontology: Discovering the ancient history of the American West." In Denver's Natural History Museum: A History. Johnson, Kirk R., Armstrong, Betsy R., Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Chip, Kruger, F., Haglund, K. A., and Krell, F. T., editors. 231–282. Denver, Colorado: Denver Museum of Nature & Science. In Denver Museum of Nature & Science Annals, 4. 2013
• Johnson, Kirk R. 2009. "Climate in Geologic Time and My Lifetime." In How the West was Warmed. Conover, Beth, editor. 80–86. Golden: Fulcrum. 2009

Map

• Johnson, Kirk R. and Troll, Ray. 2007. "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway Map: the Ultimate Prehistoric Road Map to the Best of the American West." Golden: Fulcrum. 2007

Review

• Johnson, Kirk R. 2015. [Book review] "Surrounded by science." Science, 347, (6222), 618–618. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa0840. 2015
• Johnson, Kirk R. 2007. [Book review] "Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Life of the Past. Edited by Philip J Currie and , Eva B Koppelhus . Bloomington (Indiana): Indiana University Press. $49.95. xxiii 648 p 20 pl; ill.; index. ISBN: 0‐253‐34595‐2. [CD‐ROM included.] 2005." The Quarterly review of biology, 82, (3), 268–268. https://doi.org/10.1086/523131. 2007

Book

• Johnson, Kirk R., Armstrong, Betsy R., Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Chip, Kruger, F., Haglund, K. A., and Krell, F. T., editors. 2013. Denver's Natural History Museum: A History. Denver, Colorado: Denver Museum of Nature & Science. In Denver Museum of Nature & Science Annals, 4. 2013

Presentation

• Lyson, Tyler R., Rossetto, Gabriella, Evans, Erica S. J., Bercovici, Antoine, Johnson, Kirk R., and Pearson, Dean. 2016. Dinosaur skeleton occurrence in the latest Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) Hell Creek formatin of Southwestern North Dakota and Souteastern Montana [presentation]. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, September 27, 2016. Denver, CO.