My Brontosaurus was a lie!

or The deeper meaning of that Stranger Things shirt Dustin wears

I am squarely in the intended nostalgic target audience for Stranger Things. In 1984 I was just a few years older than the kids on the show. I was a nerd. I played D&D, scrounged for quarters to play 8-bit video games, loved science, and library books ‘were my paddles’ .

For me, the meaning and impact of Dustin in Stranger Things 2 wearing the Minnesota Science Museum’s thunder lizard shirt is deeper than just a local 80’s science reference. 

The Brontosaurus represented a pivotal mind shift for me, that happened coincidentally about the time I was Dustin’s age, in the 80’s. 

Growing up in the late ’70’s science burned bright. We had landed a man on the moon and rockets were going up every year. Future exploration was assumed. We were being taught the precise metric system in school, computers were coming of age, digital calculators could be worn on your wrist. To a kid like me, the truth of science was irrefutable. 

I had found and collected fossils. My imagination was ignited by the thought that dinosaurs roamed our early earth. Dinosaur books were some of my most treasured. The mightiest of these dinosaurs was the Brontosaurus. Bigger than a house, able to knock over trees without a thought. A real life Godzilla. This was proven, it was truth, it was science! I begged my sister to make me a stuffed ‘Bronto’. 

Unknown to the young me at the time, the even existence of the Brontosaurus was being hotly debated by scientists. In 1937 The wrong skull was put on a body, and that one act had shaped most of the books, and toys that I grew up with. 

There was debate if the Brontosaurus was even a species. In 1978 there was agreement, the name Brontosaurus (thunder lizard) was depreciated to the now more used Apatosaurus (deceptive lizard). To add even more insult the Apatosaurus has a more narrow head, (personally I liked the ‘wrong’ one better)

I learned about the decision a few years later, to the teenage nerd me, this was a total mind blow. ‘My’ Brontosaurus was a lie, all the Bronto books and toys that I had were just as make believe as my Godzilla, and D&D figures. How could this be? It was Science?! How many other things I assumed were ‘truth’ weren’t! Damn you science!

Image Caption: Old Brontosaurus toy, with newer Apatosaurus head on left, and old field museum molded toy.

After the initial shock, it finally dawned on the young me. Science is not ‘truth’, it is the process we must go through to find ‘truth’. I was taught the scientific process, I knew it intellectually but my Bronto brought it home to me emotionally. 

Science is not 'Truth', It is the process we must go through to find 'truth'.

Finding truth is messy, you have to understand that your ideas and beliefs can’t be held too closely to your heart. They must be challenged, and if there are better ideas you have to be flexible enough to adopt and adapt. In science, ideas are supported through facts. Like science, in our innovation groups and product teams, our ideas start as hypothesis and we support them through rapid testing, and metrics. 

As for my beloved Bronto? We are still learning, and he might yet again be a species. 

When I saw Dustin wearing that shirt, I remembered the day my world turned upside down. I was about his age, and I was very much like him, and I loved the Brontosaurus. 

I can’t wait to get my hoodie, and when I wear it, it will not be so much a homage to Stranger Things -- it is a homage to the Scientific process and finding truth. 

Special thanks to: The Science Museum of Minnesota, and The creators of Stranger Things,