“A Look at Evolution from the Basis of Fossil Evidence in Africa”
Meave Leakey is a paleoanthropologist and zoologist who was part of the research team that in 1999 unearthed the “flat-faced man of Kenya,” a 3.5 million-year-old skull representing an entirely new branch of the early human family tree. This amazing discovery, announced in the journal Nature, has profound implications in understanding the origins of mankind.
Leakey is the standard-bearer of a family of paleoanthropologists who have dominated their field since the beginning of the 20th century. For 70 years, the Leakeys have been digging in Africa, uncovering fossilized clues to the origins of humans’ earliest ancestors. Leakey’s field and laboratory work have established her as one of the most visible and distinguished scientists in a highly competitive and male-dominated profession.
In 1994, her field expedition discovered an important piece of the evolutionary puzzle: a new species of hominid, or early human, that began to walk upright at least 4 million years ago, half a million years earlier than previously thought.
Leakey’s research also includes the evolution of monkeys, apes, carnivores and mammalian faunas. She has written more than 50 scientific articles, and her lectures are known to be as enjoyable as they are informative. A masterful storyteller, she combines scientific observations with real-life tales of her fieldwork in Africa.
Leakey has worked at the National Museums of Kenya since 1969 and was head of the division of paleontology from 1982 to 2001. She continues her research as a research affiliate of the National Museums. She is also a National Geographic explorer-in-residence in recognition of the 50-year relationship between the National Geographic Society and the Leakey family dynasty of pioneering fossil hunters.
In addition to her work in Kenya, Leakey is currently a research professor at Stony Brook University.