George F. Sternberg Collection

George Fryer Sternberg was born on August 26, 1883, in Lawrence, Kansas. He was the son of paleontologist Charles Hazelius Sternberg (1850–1943) and nephew of surgeon general and bacteriologist George Miller Sternberg (1838–1915). The Sternberg family included multiple well-known fossil hunters, including Charles H., George F., Charles Mortram Sternberg (1885–1981), and Levi Sternberg (1894–1976). George F. made his first discovery at age nine of a nearly complete plesiosaur at a dig site along Beaver Creek in Logan County, Kansas.

During his career, Sternberg found many fossils across North and South America. His discoveries are housed at numerous natural history museums around the world, including the British Museum (London, UK), Victorian Memorial Museum (Ottawa, Canada), and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC). Sternberg is best known for his 1952 discovery along with his colleagues Dr. Bob Schaeffer and Mr. Walter Sorenson from the American Museum of Natural History of the “fish-within-a-fish,” which is one of the most complete specimen of its kind. The fossilized skeleton of a 14-foot Xiphactinus audax contains the complete 6-foot skeleton of another fish (Gillicus arcuatus) it had eaten.

In 1927, President William A. Lewis hired George F. Sternberg as curator of geology and paleontology for the museums at Kansas State Teachers College of Hays (now Fort Hays State University). Oiginally created as a teaching collection for students and faculty, the museum grew quickly and was soon opened to the public. In 1933, Sternberg was promoted to curator of museums. He continued to collect fossils and conduct numerous paleontological digs across Kansas along with his fellow faculty and students. He received the first honorary degree awarded by Fort Hays State in 1932, a Master's of Science for Distinguished Scientific Attainment. He retired from Fort Hays Kansas State College in 1961.

George married Mabel Claire Smith in Phillipsburg, Kansas, on December 31, 1907. They had three children together before divorcing. George later married Anna Gertrude Zeigler on October 11, 1930.

George F. Sternberg died on October 23, 1969, in Hays. The natural history museum and geology club were renamed in honor of him and his family.