Princess Louise de Merode (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Leakey, born 21 March 1972) is a Kenyan

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

. She conducts research and field work on human

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s in Eastern Africa.

Early life and education

Louise Leakey was born in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, to Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...

and British

paleoanthropologist Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship ...

Meave Leakey 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 ...

in 1972, the same year that her paleoanthropologist grandfather,

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

, died. She first became actively involved in fossil discoveries in 1977, when at the age of five she became the youngest documented person to find a

hominoid Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

fossil. Leakey earned her

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

from

United World College of the Atlantic Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of th ...

and a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and biology from the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. She earned a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from the

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

in 2001.

Career

In 1993, Leakey joined her mother as a co-leader of paleontological expeditions in northern Kenya. The

Koobi Fora Koobi Fora refers primarily to a region around Koobi Fora Ridge, located on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana in the territory of the nomadic Gabbra people. According to the National Museums of Kenya, the name comes from the Gabbra language: ...

research project has been the main program behind some of the most notable hominid fossil discoveries of the past two decades, the most recent being ''

Kenyanthropus platyops ''Kenyanthropus'' is a hominin genus identified from the Lomekwi site by Lake Turkana, Kenya, dated to 3.3 to 3.2 million years ago during the Middle Pliocene. It contains one species, ''K. platyops'', but may also include the 2 million year ol ...

''. Leakey has promoted an initiative to place digital models of fossil collections in a virtual laboratory,
African Fossils
'' where models can be downloaded,

3D printed 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...

or cut in cardboard for reassembly.

Personal life

In 2003, Leakey married Prince Emmanuel de Merode, a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

primatologist. She is styled ''princesse

de Merode The House of Merode is one of the most prominent families of the Belgian nobility. The House of Merode originates from the village of Merode (today in the municipality of Langerwehe, Germany). Over the last five centuries different branches b ...

'' by marriage. The couple have two daughters: * Princess Seiyia de Merode; born in 2004 * Princess Alexia de Merode; born in 2006.Bowman-Kruhm, Mary (2005). ''The Leakeys: A Biography''.

References

External links

Leakey Foundation

African Fossils

Koobi Fora Research Project
* **
"A dig for humanity's origins" (TED2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leakey, Louise 1972 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the University of London Kenyan archaeologists Kenyan paleontologists Kenyan people of British descent Kenyan people of English descent Kenyan scientists

Louise Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

Paleoanthropologists People educated at Atlantic College White Kenyan people Women paleontologists

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links