C. Owen Lovejoy

Claude Owen Lovejoy (* 11. February 1943 in Paducah , Kentucky ) is an American paleoanthropologist and professor at the Institute of Anthropology of the Kent State University in Kent , the US state of Ohio .

As an expert in functional morphology , he researches, among other things, the biomechanics of the two-legged, upright gait (bipede) of the early ancestors and relatives of anatomically modern humans , with the aim of reconstructing the human tribal history ; his paper The Origin of Man , written in 1981, is one of the most cited publications in this field. Lovejoy also became known in specialist circles through his anatomical analyzes of the locomotion of Australopithecus afarensis and through his participation in the research of Ardipithecus ramidus .

Life and research

Owen Lovejoy first studied psychology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland , Ohio , where he received his bachelor's degree in 1965 . He then moved to the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, which was still an independent company at the time, and obtained a master's degree in anthropology there in 1967 . After moving to the University of Massachusetts , he also earned a doctorate in anthropology in 1970 . In the following years he researched and taught at Kent State University in Ohio and was finally appointed director of the newly formed Matthew Ferrini Institute For Human Evolutionary Research in 2007 . Lovejoy is also a research fellow at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History .

Owen Lovejoy was the lead author of five specialist publications on Ardipithecus ramidus , including the summary review on the tribal history of this species that appeared in a special issue of Science on October 2, 2009 , and he co-authored three other specialist articles in that special issue.

In 1999 he was co-author of the first description of Australopithecus garhi , and as early as 1976 he and Donald Johanson had demonstrated, using an Australopithecus afarensis knee joint , that individuals of this species could walk upright.

In his publication from 1981, The Origin of Man , Lovejoy asked a widely acclaimed by experts overview of criteria which the anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) from the other species of great apes differ: the upright gait , a large neocortex (an area the cerebral cortex ), reduced incisors and canines , a unique sexual and reproductive behavior and material culture.

Honors

Owen Lovejoy has been a member of Sigma Xi since 1974 and elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2001, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2007 . Since 2010 he has been on the editorial board of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , and since 2014 he has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Literature (selection)

• Ken Sayers and C. Owen Lovejoy: Blood, Bulbs, and Bunodonts: On Evolutionary Ecology and the Diets of Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, and Early Homo. Review article in: The Quarterly Review of Biology. Volume 89, No. 4, 2014, pp. 319-357, doi: 10.1086 / 678568
  • What was the "Paleo diet"? There was far more than one, study suggests. On: eurekalert.org of December 16, 2014
• with Kingsbury G. Heiple and Richard S. Meindl: Did our ancestors knuckle-walk? In: Nature. Volume 410, 2001, pp. 325-326, doi: 10.1038 / 35066636
• with Bruce Latimer: The calcaneus of Australopithecus afarensis and its implications for the evolution of bipedality. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 78, No. 3, 1989, pp. 369-386, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330780306
• Evolution of Human Walking. In: Scientific American . Volume 259, No. 5, 1988, pp. 82–89, doi: 10.1038 / scientificamerican1188-118 , full text (PDF)
• To be completely free for once: do you have to become a Leo? In: PM magazine . Vol. 15, 1993, pp. 6-12
• The roots of man in nature. In: PM magazine. Volume 14, 1992, pp. 52-60

Web links

• Personal web pages of C. Owen Lovejoy (Department of Anthropology, Kent State University)
• Curriculum vitae by C. Owen Lovejoy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Larry L. Mai et al .: The Cambridge Dictionary of Human Biology and Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York 2005, p. 310.
2. ^ Biographical note: Owen C. Lovejoy. ( Memento of October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In the original on the server of Minnesota State University, Mankato
3. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy et al .: Careful Climbing in the Miocene: The Forelimbs of Ardipithecus ramidus and Humans Are Primitive. In: Science. Volume 326, No. 5949, 2009, pp. 70, 70e1–70e8, doi: 10.1126 / science.1175827
4. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy et al .: The Pelvis and Femur of Ardipithecus ramidus: The Emergence of Upright Walking. In: Science. Volume 326, No. 5949, 2009, pp. 71, 71e1-71e6, doi: 10.1126 / science.1175831
5. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy et al .: Combining Prehension and Propulsion: The Foot of Ardipithecus ramidus. In: Science. Volume 326, 2009, No. 5949, pp. 72, 72e1-72e8, doi: 10.1126 / science.1175832
6. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy et al .: The Great Divides: Ardipithecus ramidus Reveals the Postcrania of Our Last Common Ancestors with African Apes. In: Science. Volume 326, No. 5949, 2009, pp. 73, 100-106, doi: 10.1126 / science.1175833
7. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy: Reexamining Human Origins in Light of Ardipithecus ramidus. In: Science. Volume 326, 2009, pp. 74, 74e1-74e8, doi: 10.1126 / science.1175834
8. ↑ Berhane Asfaw , Tim White , C. Owen Lovejoy, Bruce Latimer, Scott Simpson, Gen Suwa: Australopithecus garhi: A New Species of Hominid From Ethiopia. In: Science . Volume 284, 1999, pp. 629-635, doi: 10.1126 / science.284.5414.629
9. ↑ Donald C. Johanson , C. Owen Lovejoy, Albert H. Burstein and Kingsbury G. Heiple: Functional implications of the Afar knee joint. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 44, No. 1, 1976, p. 188 (= American Association of Physical Anthropologists / Abstract of a paper to be presented at the forty-fifth annual meeting)
10. ↑ C. Owen Lovejoy: The Origin of Man. In: Science . Volume 211, No. 4480, 1981, pp. 341-350, doi: 10.1126 / science.211.4480.341