Stephen A. Czerkas

Stephen Andrew Czerkas (born September 19, 1951, in Alhambra, California; died January 22, 2015) was an American sculptor and paleontologist.

[1][2] His life-sized replicas of dinosaurs, including members of the Deinonychus and Allosaurus genera, were among the first to incorporate accurate feathering and dorsal spines.

[3][5][6][7] In addition, Czerkas contributed to the motion picture industry, notably producing photorealistic sculptures for the 1977 film Planet of Dinosaurs.

[8] He is perhaps best known for his part in the Archaeoraptor controversy, in which Czerkas purchased a part-bird, part-dinosaur specimen for The Dinosaur Museum from a Chinese dealer.

[10][11][12] This controversy continues to circulate in creationist media sources as a purported example of widespread fraud in the evolutionary sciences.