Louis Leakey Grade 8 A.Oliver

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey  Born August 7, 1903 – October 1, 1972  Grew up in Kenya  Parents Harry and Mary Leakey were missionaries to the Kenyan Tribe of Kikuyu  Spoke English and Kikuyu  Remembered for his work in Pioneering the study of human evolution and Creating organizations for future research in Africa

The Leakey Family  Louis married Henrietta Wilfreda "Frida" Avernin 1928 who he later divorced and married Mary Nicol in 1936  Louis had four sons, one from his first marriage  Two of his sons Richard and Philip became politicians and the other two Jonathon and Colin Became prominent Scientists.

Louis & Archaeology  Louis had a natural curiosity for the past and the natural world.  Louis went to Cambridge University and his passion for Archeology grew to give him high honors in the discipline.

 Louis was on his way to fallowing his fathers foot steps to become a missionary, but when he got a job opportunity to fossil hunt in Kenya at Tendaguru he lost his focus for missions and became engulfed in archeology. Louis & Archaeology

Louis Leakey went on to become one of the best paleontologists of his time and opened the world to the idea that man kind could be older than 600,000 years old. He opened the world to a whole new idea of how man kind came to be on earth.