National Museum of Natural Science

Cheng, Yen-nien - Curator

• Retirement, Geology
• 2018/01/16 Retired

My Research Page

Retired on 2018.01.16.

For more than 10 years, I have devoted myself to promoting the geology-related work of this museum. For example, I initiated the planning for the Minerals Exhibit. With the assistance of National Taiwan University Professor Pei-lin Tien, I also implemented the collection of specimens for this exhibit. To raise the level of the museum's geological research, I have been striving to have the proposals of the museum's researchers approved for funding by the National Science Council, and I promoted the publication of the Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Science by serving as the bulletin's first editor, a post I held for 6 years.



In addition, I am continuously seeking opportunities to increase the museum's collection of outside information resources, and carry out longterm preparatory work for new exhibits. Since 1988, I have been working with Dr. Kuei-yu Yeh on the radiolarians research from the Pre-Tertiary bedded chert of Southeast Asia. Terranes of red bedded chert are found in the Nadanhada Terrane in Northeast China, the Mino Belt in southwest Japan, the western part of the Okinawa arc, the eastern part of the Central Mountain Range in Taiwan, and the North Palawan Block in the Philippines. For many years, these areas have attracted the attention of tectonic geologists. Radiolaria happen to be the only fossils found in most of the bedded chert sequences in these areas. Therefore, the results of the radiolarian studies are the most valuable tools for the age dating and the clues the tectonic studies for these chert terranes.



To meet the needs of the museum's exhibitions and educational programs, as well as to better answer visitors' inquiries, I have been working hard to increase my knowledge in the area of Vertebrate Paleontology. For example, more efforts have been made on the studies of dinosaurs and other groups of vertebrate fossils, so I will be better able to provide materials other than invertebrate paleontology for educational programs.



In October 1985, I became the first geologist hired by this museum, and initially served in the planning office. In the initial phases of the museum's development, there were no collection and research staff, and no collection and research facilities. During this time, we had to struggle to create the museum from the ground up, and many exceptional staff members left to seek a better research environment. But, I was very interested in the museum's development work, and especially enjoyed the feeling of creating the museum's future.