Meave Leakey

Meave Leakey
ملف:Meave Leakey at Toulouse City Hall - 2014.jpg Meave Leakey holding the medal of the City of Toulouse
وُلِدَ	Maeve Epps 28 يوليو 1942 London, England
المدرسة الأم	University of North Wales
الزوج	Richard Leakey ​ ​ (m. 1970; died 2022)​
الأنجال	2, including Louise Leakey
السيرة العلمية
المجالات	Paleoanthropology
الهيئات	Stony Brook University Turkana Basin Institute

Meave G. Leakey (born Meave Epps; 28 July 1942) is a British palaeoanthropologist. 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 and Doctor of Science degrees.

 Flat-faced man of Kenya

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 ("flat-faced man of Kenya").

 Personal life

Leakey was married to Richard Leakey, a palaeontologist. 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 studying for her PhD. At this time, the centre was being administered by Louis Leakey.

She received her PhD in zoology in 1968. In 2004, she was awarded an honorary D.Sc. from University College, London, for palaeontology. That same year, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Leakey is currently a Research Professor for the Turkana Basin Institute (affiliated with Stony Brook University). On 30 April 2013, Leakey was elected as a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, with specialities of geology and anthropology. 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. She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017.

 Selected publications

• Rene Bob; Meave G. Leakey (2009), "Ecology of Plio-Pleistocene Mammals in the Omo-Turkana Basin and the Emergence of Homo", 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 
• 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, PMID 9198897, Bibcode: 1997SciAm.276f..74L 
• 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, PMID 17820626 
• Koobi Fora Research Project: Researches into Geology, Palaeontology, and Human Origins, 1: The Fossil Hominids and an Introduction to their Context 1968–1974, Clarendon Press, 1978, ISBN 978-0-19-857392-0 

 See also

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

 External links

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