Roy Chapman Andrews

Roy Chapman Andrews (January 26, 1884 - 1960) was a colorful American mammologist who rose from a menial job at the American Museum of Natural History to the directorship. He is primarily known for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th Century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia. The expeditions made important discoveries including returning the first known fossil dinosaur eggs to the Museum.

Andrews was primarily a naturalist and an organizer of expeditions. His life was a long series of travels and explorations of desert islands, raging seas, remote mountains and deserts. Numerous encounters are reported with everything from angry whales and hungry sharks, to pythons and several brushes with armed Chinese bandits. He was erroneously reported dead at least once.

Andrews was married in 1914 and divorced in 1930. He had two sons.

Andrews is said to have been one of the models for movie legend Indiana Jones, and was a graduate of Beloit College, in the town of Beloit, Wisconsin where he was born.