Louis S.

Louis S. B. Leakey - Biography. British-Kenyan paleoanthropologist Birth August 7, 1903 Death October 1, 1972 Place of Kabete, Kenya Birth Known for Proving, with his discovery of fossil hominids, that human evolution began in Africa Discovering fossil remains that significantly advanced the study of human evolution and proved that humankind was much older than formerly believed Career 1924 Participated in a British Museum expedition to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) 1926 Led the first of four East African expeditions 1936 Published Stone Age Africa 1945-1961 Acted as curator of Coryndon Museum (now the National Museums of Kenya), Nairobi 1948 Discovered a skull of an ancient ape species about 20 million years old and named it Proconsul africanus 1959 Leakey's wife, anthropologist Mary Leakey, discovered the 1.75-million-year-old fossil hominid Zinjanthropus (later renamed Australopithecus boisei) 1960 Discovered the first fossils of the two-million-year-old Homo habilis, the earliest known human species at that time 1965 Published Olduvai Gorge, 1951-61 Did You Born in Kenya and raised among the Kikuyu people, Leakey was initiated as a member of the Kikuyu tribe when he was 13 years old. Know Leakey never revealed the details of this initiation ritual. On the advice of doctors, Leakey interrupted his studies at Cambridge after receiving blows to his head during rugby games and suffering severe headaches. Leakey's wife Mary was a noted paleoanthropologist, as is his son Richard. Leakey sometimes used dentist's tools in his digs. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.