Meave Leakey

Meave Leakey
Meave Leakey holding the medal of the City of Toulouse
Born	(1942-07-28) 28 July 1942 London, England, UK
Other names	Meave Epps
Fields	Paleoanthropology
Institutions	Stony Brook University Turkana Basin Institute
Alma mater	University of North Wales
Spouse	Richard Leakey (m. 1970)
Children	2, including Louise Leakey

Meave G. Leakey (born Meave Epps on 28 July 1942 in London, England) is a British paleoanthropologist. She works at Stony Brook University and is co-ordinator of Plio-Pleistocene research at the Turkana Basin Institute. She studies early hominid evolution and has done extensive field research in the Turkana Basin. She has Doctor of Philosophy^[1] and Doctor of Science^[2] degrees.

Flat-faced man of Kenya

Dr. Leakey's research team at Lake Turkana, Kenya made a discovery in 1999. They found a 3.5-million-year-old skull and partial jaw thought to belong to a new branch of the early human family. She named the find Kenyanthropus platyops, or flat-faced man of Kenya.

Personal life

Meave Leakey is married to Richard Leakey, a paleontologist. They have two children, Louise (born 1972) and Samira (born 1974). Louise Leakey continues family traditions by conducting palaeontological research.

Leakey initially studied Zoology and Marine zoology at the University of North Wales. Her first contact with the Leakey family was working for the Tigoni Primate Research Centre while taking her Ph.D. At this time, the centre was being administered by Louis Leakey.

She received her Ph.D. in Zoology in 1968.^[1] In 2004, she was awarded an honorary D.Sc. from University College, London,^[2] for Palaeontology. Leakey is currently a Research Professor for the Turkana Basin Institute (affiliated with Stony Brook University.^[3] On 30 April 2013, Leakey was elected as a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, with specialties of Geology and Anthropology.^[4] This made Leakey the first Kenyan citizen and also the first woman citizen of an African country to be elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.^[5]

Selected publications

• Rene Bob & Meave G. Leakey (2009), "Ecology of Plio-Pleistocene Mammals in the Omo-Turkana Basin and the Emergence of Homo", in Frederick E. Gine; John G. Fleagle & Richard E. Leakey, The First Humans: Origin and Early Evolution of the Genus Homo, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Conference publication: Springer, pp. 175–184, ISBN 978-1-4020-9979-3, retrieved 30 April 2010 
• Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa by John Harris and Meave Leakey, Eds. (December 2001).
• Leakey, Meave; Walker, Alan (June 1997), "Early Hominid Fossils from Africa", Scientific American, 276 (6): 74–79, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0697-74 
• Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Pliocene and Pleistocene Localities West of Lake Turkana, Kenya by John Harris, Meave Leakey, Eds. et al. (October 1988).
• Harris, J.M; Brown, F.H; Leakey, M.G; Walker, A.C; Leakey, R.E (1 January 1989), "Pliocene and Pleistocene Hominid-Bearing Sites from West of Lake Turkana, Kenya", Science, 239 (4835): 27–33, doi:10.1126/science.239.4835.27 
• M.G. Leakey, R.E. Leakey, J.M. Harris (editors) (1978), Koobi Fora Research Project: Researches into Geology, Palaeontology, and Human Origins, Volume 1: The Fossil Hominids and an Introduction to their Context 1968-1974, Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-857392-0  CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)

Position in the Leakey family

See also

• Meave (Irish name)
• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)

References

External links

• Leakey Foundation
• Koobi Fora Research Project
• Dr. Meave Leakey Discusses Kenyanthropus platyops
• Turkana Basin Institute