Douglas A. Lawson

Douglas A. Lawson (born 1947) is a geologist, paleontologist, and computer scientist.

In 1971 Lawson discovered wing bone fossils from a giant pterosaur^[1] embedded in a sandstone outcropping at Big Bend National Park, Texas.^[2] At the time the fossils were found, Lawson was working with Professor Wann Langston, Jr. of the University of Texas at Austin. Lawson was at Big Bend searching for the bones of titanosaur sauropods, such as Alamosaurus, when the pterosaur bones, which he later named Quetzalcoatlus, were discovered.

When the discovery of the fossils was reported in 1975, Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying creature known to have lived.^[3] A fellow researcher challenged Lawson's estimates of the dimensions of the wing architecture of Quetzalcoatlus. However, Lawson responded by demonstrating that while inconsistent with those of modern-day birds, his estimates were consistent with extrapolations of other pterosaurs, such as Pterodactylus antiquus.^[4] In 2010 the U.S. National Park Service described Quetzalcoatlus as the world's second-largest known flying creature.^[5]

Lawson's discovery of the remains of Quetzalcoatlus northropi caused scientists to rethink both the evolution of flight and the habitats of giant fliers.^{[citation needed]} Lawson appears in Sir David Attenborough's motion picture documentary, Flying Monsters 3D (2010), discussing the impressive wingspan of Quetzalcoatlus and how estimates of that wingspan have changed over time.

Lawson's interest in evolving systems and swarming led him to develop as a computer scientist. While working at Southwest Airlines, Lawson used evolutionary computation methods to evaluate alternate means of having passengers board aircraft. Based upon the behavior of ants, Lawson determined whether assigned seating would be faster than Southwest's "festival seating" by creating an ant-based routing computer simulation of passengers boarding a plane, and then trying each pattern.^[6][7]

Additionally, Lawson has used ant-based routing in assigning aircraft arrivals to airport gates. At Southwest Airlines a software program uses swarm theory, or swarm intelligence — the idea that a colony of ants works better than one alone. "People don't like being only 500 yards away from a gate and having to sit out there until another aircraft leaves."^[8] "Each pilot or plane acts like an ant searching for the best airport gate. "The pilot learns from his experience what's the best for him, and it turns out that that's the best solution for the airline," Lawson explained. As a result, the "colony" of pilots always go to gates from which they can arrive and depart quickly. The program can even alert a pilot of plane back-ups before they happen. "We can anticipate that it's going to happen, so we'll have a gate available," Lawson says.^[9]

Lawson was one of 100 alumni featured in Celebrating 100 Years: 1910-2010, marking the 100th anniversary of the Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin. He was among individuals selected to represent the Jackson School of Geosciences.^[10]