Robert Broom

Robert Broom is a Médecin and a South-African paleontologist , born the November 30th 1866 with Paisley (Scotland) and dead the April 6th 1951.

It is graduate of medicine in 1895 at the university of Glasgow and emigrates shortly after in South Africa. He teaches the Géologie and the Zoologie in Victoria College of Stellenbosch of 1903 with 1910 and is preserving paleontology of vertebrate Natural history museum of the Cape.

He starts with research on the Therapsida. When Raymond Dart (1893-1988) discovers the child of Taung, a fossil of a young person Australopithecus africanus , Broom is directed towards the Paléoanthropologie. Its career seemed finished and it was in great financial problems when Dart sensitized Jan Smuts (1870-1950) with the situation of Broom. Smuts makes play its influences and Broom joined the Transvaal Museum of Pretoria in 1934.

Broom then carries out a series of important discovered in particular the fragments of six Hominidé S in the series of caves limestones of Sterkfontein, which it names Plesianthropus transvaalensis and which will be classified later in of the Australopithèque S. It discovers also other fossils in the sites close to Kromdraai and of Swartkrans. In 1937, it becomes famous by discovering a Australopithecus robustus . Broom became member of Royal Society the May 13rd 1920.

Source

Translation partial of the article of English language of Wikipédia (version of June 9th, 2006).

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