Talking Evolution

An expert on human evolution, Leakey led palaeoanthropological expeditions to the Turkana basin in Kenya. These yielded some of the most important hominid fossils ever discovered and led to a new understanding of both the early origins of the genus Homo and its early evolution. Many of these fossils were extremely well-preserved, and the most famous, discovered in 1984 and named Turkana Boy, a Homo erectus roughly 1.6 million years old, is one of the most complete skeletons ever found.

For much of this time he was also Director of the National Museums of Kenya and helped establish it as an international research centre.

Richard Leakey has also devoted much of his life to conservation, first as Director of the Kenyan Wildlife Service, where he acted to reduce large-scale poaching, then in numerous ways as a vocal supporter of promotion of wildlife.

His lecture, entitled ‘Human Evolution – what can be known?’, takes place in the Lady Mitchell Hall on the University’s Sidgwick Site at 5pm and is open to all. It is the culmination of a day of talks to celebrate the opening of a new building for the University of Cambridge Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies.

The £5.2 million Henry Wellcome building on Fitzwilliam Street, designed by leading architects Sheppard Robson, provides state of the art laboratories, including specialised genetic labs for ancient DNA, an environmentally safe and secure storage space for the Duckworth Collection of human skeletons, and a pleasant airy environment for offices, meeting and seminar rooms.