Martin Pickford: Difference between revisions

Martin Pickford
Martin Pickford
	Martin Pickford, 2011 at Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), identifying fossil teeth of Suidae from Indonesia, excavated from the stratum of Homo erectus from Sangiran
Born	1943 (age 80–81); Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
Citizenship	Kenyan
Alma mater	Dalhousie University (Bachelor's), University of London (PhD)
Known for	discovery of Orrorin tugenensis (2001)
	Scientific career
Institutions	Uganda Paleontology Expedition, Collège de France, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, National Museums of Kenya, University of Mainz
Thesis	Stratigraphy and Palaeoecology of Five Late Cainozoic Formations in the Kenya Rift Valley (1974)

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Martin Pickford (born 1943) is a lecturer in the Chair of Paleoanthropology and Prehistory at the Collège de France^[1] and honorary affiliate at the Département Histoire de la Terre in the Muséum national d'Histoire.^[2] In 2001, Martin Pickford together with Brigitte Senut and their team discovered Orrorin tugenensis, a hominid primate species dated between 5.8 and 6.2 million years ago and a potential ancestor of the genus Australopithecus.^[3]

Biographical details

Pickford was born in 1943 in Wiltshire, England.^[4] He is the 4th child of Austin Joseph Pickford and Eleanor Margery Pickford née Holman. The family moved to Kenya in 1946.^{[citation needed]} He read for his first degree between 1967 and 1971 in Dalhousie University and took a PhD at the University of London in 1975. Between 1978 and 2003 he worked at Kenya National Museums at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and as a Fellow at the University of Mainz, Germany and has since held various visiting professorships.^[4]

Research in Africa

At the time of Orrorin's discovery, researchers wishing to carry out palaeontological research in Kenya were required to be affiliated with an officially sanctioned Kenyan research organisation. Prior to 1993 the only institution with this privilege was the Kenya National Museums, in which Pickford was Head of the Department of Sites and Monuments from 1978 to 1984. As such the museum and its director used to enjoy a monopoly on palaeontological research in Kenya. However, 7 years before the discovery of Orrorin in 2000, following intense pressure from the international community, the Kenyan Government liberalised many facets of the political, economic and bureaucratic life of the country, and this included the monopoly on the country's palaeontological and archaeological resources that the National Museums of Kenya and its director Richard Leakey had previously enjoyed, both prior to, and following, the country's independence in 1963.

In 1984, Pickford was congratulated in writing by the then director of the National Museums of Kenya Richard Leakey, with whom Pickford had attended high school in Nairobi, for completing three two-year contracts at the museum. Leakey informed Pickford that it was not possible to renew the contract a fourth time, as at that time there was a government-set limit placed on the quantity of such renewals.^{[citation needed]} Pickford then settled in France, and in 1985, after contacting the Uganda Government, he launched the Uganda Paleontology Expedition.

From 1971 to 1978 Pickford had carried out extensive research in the Tugen Hills under a permit issued by the Kenyan Office of the President.^{[citation needed]} During the surveys Pickford and his team found many important fossils ranging in age from 15 million to 2 million years old. In 1974 he found the first hominid fossil from the 6-million-year-old Lukeino Formation (published in Nature in 1975), a lower molar, which is today included in the hypodigm of Orrorin tugenensis. He also named Orrorin praegens in 2022.

Selected publications

Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (20 January 2001). "First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya)". Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 137–144.
Pickford, M. (30 January 2001). "The geological and faunal context of Late Miocene hominid remains from Lukeino, KenyaContexte géologique et faunique des restes d'hominidés du Miocène supérieur de Lukeino, Kenya". Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 2, 145–152.
Pickford, M. (1997). Louis B. Leakey: Beyond the evidence. London: Janus Pub. Co.^[5]

Sources

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6828/full/410508a0.html
"Orrorin tugenesis". 16 September 2001. Archived from the original on 19 January 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2007.

Regal, Brian (2004). Human evolution: A guide to the debates. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO.

References

^ "First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya)". Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (January 20, 2001). Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 137–144. Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed Aug 2012)
^ Pickford, M. and Morales, J. (2003) New Listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography, GEODIVERSITAS,,25, Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris
^ Haviland, William A.; Prins, Harald E. L.; Walrath, Dana; McBride, Bunny (2007). Evolution and prehistory: the human challenge. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-38190-7.
^ ^a ^b Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Dr. Martin Pickford (Accessed Aug 2012)
^ Van, C. J. A. (1 January 1999). "Book Review: Louis S. B. Leakey: Beyond the Evidence. Edited by Martin Pickford, Ph.D. Janus Publishing Company, London, 1997, xxiv + 164 pp., 16 color figs (paper), £12.00". International Journal of Primatology, 20, 2, 291–294.

[1] "First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya)". Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (January 20, 2001). Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 137–144. Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed Aug 2012)

[2] Pickford, M. and Morales, J. (2003) New Listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography, GEODIVERSITAS,,25, Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris

[3] Haviland, William A.; Prins, Harald E. L.; Walrath, Dana; McBride, Bunny (2007). Evolution and prehistory: the human challenge. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-38190-7.

[Mainz-4] Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Dr. Martin Pickford (Accessed Aug 2012)

[5] Van, C. J. A. (1 January 1999). "Book Review: Louis S. B. Leakey: Beyond the Evidence. Edited by Martin Pickford, Ph.D. Janus Publishing Company, London, 1997, xxiv + 164 pp., 16 color figs (paper), £12.00". International Journal of Primatology, 20, 2, 291–294.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{BLP sources|date = July 2008}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
+{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
+{{Infobox scientist
+| name              = Martin Pickford
+| image             = Martin Pickford at Senckenberg.jpg
+| caption           = Martin Pickford, 2011 at [[Naturmuseum Senckenberg]] ([[Frankfurt am Main]], Germany), identifying [[fossil]] teeth of [[Suidae]] from [[Indonesia]], excavated from the [[stratum]] of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' from [[Sangiran]]
+| birth_date        = {{Birth year and age|1943}}
+| birth_place       = [[Wiltshire, England]], [[United Kingdom]]
+| citizenship       = Kenyan
+| workplaces        = [[Uganda Paleontology Expedition]], [[Collège de France]], [[Muséum national d'histoire naturelle]], [[National Museums of Kenya]], [[University of Mainz]]
+| alma_mater        = [[Dalhousie University]] (Bachelor's), [[University of London]] (PhD)
+| thesis_title      = Stratigraphy and Palaeoecology of Five Late Cainozoic Formations in the Kenya Rift Valley
+| thesis_year       = 1974
+| known_for         = discovery of ''[[Orrorin tugenensis]]'' (2001)
+}}
+'''Martin Pickford''' (born 1943) is a lecturer in the Chair of Paleoanthropology and Prehistory at the [[Collège de France]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140226104334/http://www2.ku.edu/~lba/courses/articles/ORRORIN.pdf "First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya)"]. [[Brigitte Senut|Senut, B.]], Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (January 20, 2001). ''Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris, Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes'', 332, 137–144. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226104334/http://www2.ku.edu/~lba/courses/articles/ORRORIN.pdf |date=26 February 2014 }} (Accessed Aug 2012)</ref> and honorary affiliate at the Département Histoire de la Terre in the [[Muséum national d'histoire naturelle|Muséum national d'Histoire]].<ref>[http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/geodiv/g03n2a9.pdf Pickford, M. and Morales, J. (2003) New Listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography, ''GEODIVERSITAS'',,25, Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris]</ref>  In 2001, Martin Pickford together with [[Brigitte Senut]] and their team discovered ''[[Orrorin tugenensis]]'', a hominid primate species dated between 5.8 and 6.2 million years ago and a potential ancestor of the genus ''[[Australopithecus]]''.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Haviland | first1 = William A.
-{{refimprove|date = July 2008}}
-[[File:Martin Pickford at Senckenberg.jpg|thumb|Martin Pickford, 2011 at [[Naturmuseum Senckenberg]] ([[Frankfurt am Main]], [[Germany]]), identifying [[fossil]] teeth of [[Suidae]] from [[Indonesia]], excavated from the [[stratum]] of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' from [[Sangiran]]]]
-'''Martin Pickford''' holds a Chair in Paleoanthropology and Prehistory at the [[Collège de France]]<ref>[http://www2.ku.edu/~lba/courses/articles/ORRORIN.pdf Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (January 20, 2001). First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). ''Comptes Rendus Academie Des Sciences Paris Serie 2 Sciences De La Terre Et Des Planetes Fascicule A'', 332, 137-144.](Accessed Aug 2012)</ref> and researcher at the Département Histoire de la Terre in the [[Muséum national d'histoire naturelle|Muséum national d’Histoire]].<ref>[http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/geodiv/g03n2a9.pdf Pickford, M. and Morales, J. (2003) New Listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography, ''GEODIVERSITAS'',,25, Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris</ref>  In 2001 Martin Pickford together with Brigitte Senut and their team discovered [[Orrorin tugenensis]], a hominid primate species dated between 5.8 and 6.2 million years ago and a potential ancestor of the [[Australopithecus]] genus.<ref>{{cite book | ref = harv
- | last1 = Haviland | first1 = William A.
  | last2 = Prins | first2 = Harald E. L.
  | last3 = Walrath | first3 = Dana
@@ Line 10: / Line 22: @@
  | title = Evolution and prehistory: the human challenge
  | publisher = Cengage Learning | year = 2007
- | isbn = 0-495-38190-X
+ | isbn = 978-0-495-38190-7
- | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=LfYirloa_rUC&pg=PA122&dq=Orrorin
+ | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LfYirloa_rUC&q=Orrorin&pg=PA122
 }}</ref>
-== Some biographical details ==
-Pickford was born in 1943 in Wiltshire, England.<ref name ="Mainz">[http://www.studgen.uni-mainz.de/949.php Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Dr. Martin Pickford] (Accessed Aug 2012)</ref> He is the 4th child of Austin Joseph Pickford and Eleanor Margery Pickford née Holman. The family moved to Kenya in 1946.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} He read for his first degree between 1967 and 1971 in [[Dalhousie University]] and took a PhD at the University of London in 1975. Between 1978 and 2003 he worked at Kenya National Museums at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and as a Fellow at the University of Mainz, Germany and has since held various visiting professorships. <ref name ="Mainz">[http://www.studgen.uni-mainz.de/949.php Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Dr. Martin Pickford] (Accessed Aug 2012)</ref>
+==Biographical details==
-==Controversy and Discovery of Orrorin==
+Pickford was born in 1943 in [[Wiltshire]], England.<ref name ="Mainz">[http://www.studgen.uni-mainz.de/949.php Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz: Dr. Martin Pickford] (Accessed Aug 2012)</ref> He is the 4th child of Austin Joseph Pickford and Eleanor Margery Pickford née Holman. The family moved to Kenya in 1946.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} He read for his first degree between 1967 and 1971 in [[Dalhousie University]] and took a PhD at the University of London in 1975. Between 1978 and 2003 he worked at Kenya National Museums at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and as a Fellow at the [[University of Mainz]], Germany and has since held various visiting professorships.<ref name="Mainz"/>
-===Background===
-At the time of Orrorin's discovery, researchers wishing to carry out palaeontological research in Kenya were required to be affiliated with an officially sanctioned Kenyan research organization. Prior to 1993 the only institution with this privilege was the [[National Museums of Kenya|Kenya National Museums]], in which Pickford was Head of the Department of Sites and Monuments from 1978 to 1984. As such the museum and its director used to enjoy a monopoly on palaeontological research in Kenya. However, 7 years before the discovery of Orrorin in 2000, following intense pressure from the international community, the Kenyan Government liberalised many facets of the political, economic and bureaucratic life of the country, and this included the monopoly on the country's paleontological and archeological resources that the National Museums of Kenya and its director [[Richard Leakey]] had previously enjoyed, both prior to, and following, the country's independence in 1963.
+==Research in Africa==
-In 1984, Pickford was congratulated in writing by the then director of the National Museums of Kenya Richard Leakey, with whom Pickford had attended high school in Nairobi, for completing three two-year contracts at the museum. Leakey informed Pickford that it was not possible to renew the contract a fourth time, as at that time there was a government-set limit placed on the quantity of such renewals. Pickford then settled in France, and in 1985, after contacting the [[Uganda]] Government, he launched the Uganda Paleontology Expedition.
+At the time of Orrorin's discovery, researchers wishing to carry out palaeontological research in Kenya were required to be affiliated with an officially sanctioned Kenyan research organisation. Prior to 1993 the only institution with this privilege was the [[National Museums of Kenya|Kenya National Museums]], in which Pickford was Head of the Department of Sites and Monuments from 1978 to 1984. As such the museum and its director used to enjoy a monopoly on palaeontological research in Kenya. However, 7 years before the discovery of ''Orrorin'' in 2000, following intense pressure from the international community, the Kenyan Government liberalised many facets of the political, economic and bureaucratic life of the country, and this included the monopoly on the country's palaeontological and archaeological resources that the National Museums of Kenya and its director [[Richard Leakey]] had previously enjoyed, both prior to, and following, the country's independence in 1963.
+In 1984, Pickford was congratulated in writing by the then director of the National Museums of Kenya Richard Leakey, with whom Pickford had attended high school in Nairobi, for completing three two-year contracts at the museum. Leakey informed Pickford that it was not possible to renew the contract a fourth time, as at that time there was a government-set limit placed on the quantity of such renewals.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} Pickford then settled in France, and in 1985, after contacting the [[Uganda]] Government, he launched the Uganda Paleontology Expedition.
-From 1971 to 1978 Pickford had carried out extensive research in the [[Tugen Hills]] under a permit issued by the Kenyan Office of the President. During the surveys Pickford and his team found many important fossils ranging in age from 15 million to 2 million years old. In 1974 he found the first hominid from the 6 million-year-old [[Lukeino Formation]] (published in Nature in 1975) a lower molar which is today included in the [[hypodigm]] of Orrorin tugenensis.
+From 1971 to 1978 Pickford had carried out extensive research in the [[Tugen Hills]] under a permit issued by the Kenyan Office of the President.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} During the surveys Pickford and his team found many important fossils ranging in age from 15 million to 2 million years old. In 1974 he found the first hominid fossil from the 6-million-year-old [[Lukeino Formation]] (published in ''Nature'' in 1975), a lower molar, which is today included in the [[hypodigm]] of ''[[Orrorin]] tugenensis''. He also named ''Orrorin praegens'' in 2022.
-On October 30, 1998, Pickford was issued a permit to carry out research in the Tugen Hills of Kenya under the auspices of the [[Collège de France]], Paris with an affiliation to the [[Community Museums of Kenya]]. The Community Museums of Kenya, which had been founded by [[Eustace Gitonga]] and other prominent Kenyan citizens in 1997, was accredited by the Kenyan government (and therefore had the power to apply for research permits).
+==Selected publications==
-In 2002, Pickford and his team erected the [[Kipsaraman Community Museum]] in the Tugen Hills, which displays casts of Orrorin, along with many other spectacular fossils from the region. The original Orrorin fossils are curated by the Community Museums of Kenya, where researchers from the international scientific community are free to examine them upon request to its Director, Mr Eustace Gitonga.
+* Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (20 January 2001). "First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya)". ''Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris'', Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 137–144.
+* Pickford, M. (30 January 2001). "The geological and faunal context of Late Miocene hominid remains from Lukeino, KenyaContexte géologique et faunique des restes d'hominidés du Miocène supérieur de Lukeino, Kenya". ''Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences Paris'', Série IIA Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, 332, 2, 145–152.
-== Selected publications ==
+* Pickford, M. (1997). ''Louis B. Leakey: Beyond the evidence. London'': Janus Pub. Co.<ref>Van, C. J. A. (1 January 1999). "Book Review: Louis S. B. Leakey: Beyond the Evidence. Edited by Martin Pickford, Ph.D. Janus Publishing Company, London, 1997, xxiv + 164 pp., 16 color figs (paper), £12.00". ''International Journal of Primatology'', 20, 2, 291–294.</ref>
-Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., & Coppens, Y. (January 20, 2001). First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). Comptes Rendus Academie Des Sciences Paris Serie 2 Sciences De La Terre Et Des Planetes Fascicule A, 332, 137-144.
-Pickford, M. (January 30, 2001). The geological and faunal context of Late Miocene hominid remains from Lukeino, KenyaContexte géologique et faunique des restes d'hominidés du Miocène supérieur de Lukeino, Kenya. Comptes Rendus De L'académie Des Sciences - Series Iia - Earth and Planetary Science, 332, 2, 145-152.
-Pickford, M. (1997). Louis B. Leakey: Beyond the evidence. London: Janus Pub. Co.<ref>Van, C. J. A. (January 01, 1999). BOOK REVIEW: Louis S. B. Leakey: Beyond the Evidence. Edited by Martin Pickford, Ph.D. Janus Publishing Company, London, 1997, xxiv + 164 pp., 16 color figs (paper), £12.00. International Journal of Primatology, 20, 2, 291-294.</ref>
 ==Sources==
 *http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6828/full/410508a0.html
 *{{cite web
-  | last =
-  | first =
-  | authorlink =
-  | coauthors =
   | title = Orrorin tugenesis
-  | work =
+  | date = 16 September 2001
-  | publisher =
-  | date = 2001-09-16
   | url = http://www.modernhumanorigins.net/tugenensis.html
+  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060119002248/http://www.modernhumanorigins.net/tugenensis.html
-  | doi =
-  | accessdate = 2007-11-26 }}
+  | url-status = usurped
+  | archive-date = 19 January 2006
+  | access-date = 26 November 2007 }}
 * {{cite book
  | last = Regal
  | first = Brian
- | authorlink =
- | coauthors =
  | title = Human evolution: A guide to the debates
  | publisher = ABC-CLIO.
- | series =
- | volume =
- | edition =
  | date = 2004
  | location = Santa Barbara, California, USA
+ }}
- | pages =
- | language =
- | url =
- | doi =
- | id =
- | isbn =
- | mr =
- | zbl =
- | jfm = }}
-==External links==
-*{{worldcat id|lccn-n86-70757}}
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}
+{{Authority control}}
-{{Authority control|VIAF=5101793}}
-{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
-| NAME              = Pickford, Martin, Richard
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION = British paleoantropologist
-| DATE OF BIRTH     =
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
-| DATE OF DEATH     =
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickford, Martin, Richard}}
 [[Category:1943 births]]
 [[Category:Living people]]
+[[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
 [[Category:Kenyan paleontologists]]
 [[Category:British paleoanthropologists]]

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