Daniel Lieberman
Daniel Eric Lieberman | |
---|---|
![]() Lieberman in January 2020 | |
Born | Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | June 3, 1964
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Known for | Human evolution |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biologist, anthropologist |
Institutions | Rutgers University George Washington University Harvard University |
Daniel E. Lieberman (born June 3, 1964) is a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, where he is the Edwin M Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor in the . He is best known for his research on the evolution of the human head[1] and the human body.[2]
Biography[]
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (March 2021) |
Lieberman was educated at Harvard University, where he got his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He also received a M. Phil from Cambridge University. He was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows and taught at Rutgers University and the George Washington University before becoming a professor at Harvard University in 2001. He is on the curatorial board of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, a member of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, and the Scientific Executive Committee of the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation. He is the director of the Skeletal Biology Laboratory at Harvard University.
Honors and awards[]
- National Merit Scholar, 1982
- Phi Beta Kappa (Harvard College), 1986
- Summa cum laude, Harvard College
- Frank Knox III Memorial Fellowship, 1986-1987
- National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1987-1990
- Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows, 1993-1996
- IgNobel Prize in Physics, 2009
- Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award, Harvard University, 2009
- Harvard College Professorship, 2010-2015
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2020
Research[]
Lieberman studies how and why the human body is the way it is, with a primary focus on the evolution of physical activity [2] His research combines paleontology, anatomy, physiology and experimental biomechanics in the lab and in the field. In his career, he initially focused to a large extent on why and how humans have such unusual heads.[1] Since 2004 most of his research has focused on the evolution of human locomotion including whether the first hominins were bipeds,[3] why bipedalism evolved,[4] the biomechanical challenges of pregnancy in females,[5] how locomotion affects skeletal function[6] and, most especially, the evolution of running. His 2004 paper with Dennis Bramble, “Endurance Running and the Evolution of the Genus Homo”[7] proposed that humans evolved to run long distances to scavenge and hunt. His research on running in general, especially barefoot running[8][9] was popularized in Chris McDougall's best-selling book Born to Run.[10] Lieberman is an avid marathon runner, often barefoot, which has earned him the nickname 'The Barefoot Professor'.[11]
Bibliography[]
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Books[]
- Lieberman, Daniel (2011). The Evolution of the Human Head. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04636
- Lieberman, Daniel (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease. Pantheon Press. ISBN 978-0307741806.
- Lieberman, Daniel (2021). Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Pantheon Press. ISBN 978-1524746988.
Critical studies and reviews of Lieberman's work[]
- Condie, Bill (Feb–Mar 2014). "[Untitled review]". Coda. Reviews. Cosmos. 55: 106–107. Review of The story of the human body.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Lieberman, Daniel E (2011). The Evolution of the Human Head. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674046368.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Lieberman, Daniel E (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, Disease. New York, NY, USA: Pantheon. ISBN 978-0-307-37941-2.
- ^ Zollikofer, C. P. E.; Ponce De León, M. S.; Lieberman, D. E.; Guy, F.; Pilbeam, D.; Likius, A.; MacKaye, H. T.; Vignaud, P.; Brunet, M. (2005). "Virtual cranial reconstruction of Sahelanthropus tchadensis". Nature. 434 (7034): 755–759. Bibcode:2005Natur.434..755Z. doi:10.1038/nature03397. PMID 15815628. S2CID 4362525.
- ^ Lieberman, Daniel E (2010). Jonathann B Losos (ed.). Four legs good, two legs fortuitous: Brains, brawn and the evolution of human bipedalism in In the Light of Evolution. Greenwood Village, CO, USA: Roberts and Company. pp. 55–71.
- ^ Whitcome, K. K.; Shapiro, L. J.; Lieberman, D. E. (2007). "Fetal load and the evolution of lumbar lordosis in bipedal hominins" (PDF). Nature. 450 (7172): 1075–1078. Bibcode:2007Natur.450.1075W. doi:10.1038/nature06342. PMID 18075592. S2CID 10158.
- ^ Lieberman, D. E.; Pearson, O. M.; Polk, J. D.; Demes, B.; Crompton, A. W. (2003). "Optimization of bone growth and remodeling in response to loading in tapered mammalian limbs". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 206 (Pt 18): 3125–3138. doi:10.1242/jeb.00514. PMID 12909694.
- ^ Bramble, D. M.; Lieberman, D. E. (2004). "Endurance running and the evolution of Homo". Nature. 432 (7015): 345–352. Bibcode:2004Natur.432..345B. doi:10.1038/nature03052. PMID 15549097. S2CID 2470602.
- ^ Lieberman, D. E.; Venkadesan, M.; Werbel, W. A.; Daoud, A. I.; d'Andrea, S.; Davis, I. S.; Mang'Eni, R. O.; Pitsiladis, Y. (2010). "Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners". Nature. 463 (7280): 531–535. Bibcode:2010Natur.463..531L. doi:10.1038/nature08723. PMID 20111000. S2CID 216420.
- ^ Lieberman, D. E. (2012). "What We Can Learn About Running from Barefoot Running". Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 40 (2): 63–72. doi:10.1097/JES.0b013e31824ab210. PMID 22257937. S2CID 16480403.
- ^ McDougall, Christopher (2009). Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Knopf. pp. 304. ISBN 978-0-307-26630-9.
- ^ "Barefoot Professor". Nature. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- Living people
- Harvard University faculty
- Harvard University alumni
- 1964 births
- Harvard Fellows
- Rutgers University faculty
- George Washington University faculty
- Alumni of the University of Cambridge