A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION honoring Indiana native Sue
Hendrickson for her numerous accomplishments in the field of
archaeology and congratulating her on her recent discovery of
Tyrannosaurus Rex "Sue".
, read first time and referred to Committee on
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION honoring Indiana native Sue
Hendrickson for her numerous accomplishments in the field of
archaeology and congratulating her on her recent discovery of
Tyrannosaurus Rex "Sue".
Whereas, at a young age, Sue Hendrickson dreamed of
seeing the world. Growing up in Munster, Indiana, while in
school, Sue satisfied her desire to travel through reading. An
avid reader, Sue poured through the library's collection of
books by country. Then, at the age of 17, Sue decided to set
out to realize her dream;
Whereas, the first stop on her adventure was Marin
County, California, where she lived on a sailboat and
became interested in saltwater fish. Pursuing this new
interest, Sue headed to the Florida Keys where she began
diving with two fish collectors;
Whereas, utilizing her diving skills, Sue then moved into
salvage work, raising shrimp boats and airplanes. This work
eventually lead her into marine archaeology where she
worked on historical shipwrecks;
Whereas, while on a dive in the Dominican Republic in the 1970's, Sue took a trip to an amber mine where she viewed insects preserved in amber. This was Sue's first introduction to fossils. After this experience, she began diving for lobsters during the summers in order to finance her excavation work during the rest of the year;
Whereas, upon excavation, it was confirmed that Sue's
find was not only a T. Rex, but it was the largest and most
complete skeleton ever to be discovered. Named after her
discoverer, "Sue" was determined to be 13 feet tall at the hip
and approximately 41 feet in length;
Whereas, at the conclusion of an ownership battle, "Sue"
was sold at auction to Chicago's Field Museum for $8.36
million, the highest price ever to be paid for a fossil. "Sue"
is now on display at Chicago's Field Museum while traveling
exhibits feature full-sized replicas; and
Whereas, Sue Hendrickson is famous in the scientific
world for her uncanny ability to find amazing things.
Included among her finds are three of the six precious 20-
million-year-old, amber-encased butterflies known to exist,
sunken Spanish galleons in Cuba, and prehistoric whales and
sharks in Peru. In addition, Sue was part of the team that
located Cleopatra's palace and Napoleon's fleet, both
submerged in waters near Egypt: Therefore,
SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly recognizes the
many contributions Indiana native Sue Hendrickson has made to the
scientific community and congratulates her on her discovery of the
largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton "Sue".
SECTION 2. The Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed to
transmit a copy of this Resolution to Sue Hendrickson.