Arthur Smith Woodward: His Life and Influence on Modern Vertebrate Palaeontology

Arthur Smith Woodward was the Natural History Museum’s longest-serving Keeper of Geology and the world’s leading expert on fossil fish. He was also an unwitting victim of the Piltdown fraud, which overshadowed his important scientific contributions. The aim of this book is to honour Smith Woodward’s contributions to vertebrate palaeontology, discuss their relevance today and provide insights into the factors that made him such an eminent scientist. The last few years have seen a resurgence in fossil vertebrate (particularly fish) palaeontology, including new techniques for the ‘virtual’ study of fossils (synchrotron and micro CT-scanning) and new research foci, such as ‘Evo-Devo’ – combining fossils with the development of living animals. This new research is built on a strong foundation, like that provided by Smith Woodward’s work. This collection of papers, authored by some of the leading experts in their fields, covers the many facets of Smith Woodward’s life, legacy and career. It will be a benchmark for studies on one of the leading vertebrate palaeontologists of his generation.
Arthur Smith Woodward and his involvement in the study of human evolution
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Published:January 01, 2016
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CiteCitation
Christopher Dean, Isabelle De Groote, Chris Stringer, 2016. "Arthur Smith Woodward and his involvement in the study of human evolution", Arthur Smith Woodward: His Life and Influence on Modern Vertebrate Palaeontology, Z. Johanson, P. M. Barrett, M. Richter, M. Smith
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Abstract
In 1884, Arthur Smith Woodward first met Charles Dawson, a solicitor and industrious amateur collector, antiquarian, geologist, archaeologist and palaeontologist. This began a long association and friendship centred on their mutual interest in palaeontology and human evolution. Dawson devised a complicated plot focused around the ancient river gravel deposits at Barkham Manor near the village of Piltdown, Sussex. In these gravels he planted stone tools and fossil mammal remains together with the lower jaw of an ape and numerous modern human cranial bones to deceive the scientific establishment into believing an early human ancestor had been found in his own back yard. Cleverly devised to provide anatomists and archaeologists with evidence for concepts that they wanted to believe were true, Dawson fuelled numerous contentious debates among scientists that quickly attracted international attention. Nothing could be more unfortunate than such a respectable scientist as Arthur Smith Woodward being taken in by the events of 1912, and then subsequently swept along by them well into his retirement right up to the time of his death in 1944.
- Africa
- anatomy
- archaeological sites
- archaeology
- artifacts
- assemblages
- biography
- biologic evolution
- bones
- careers
- Chordata
- cranium
- East Africa
- East Sussex England
- England
- Europe
- Eutheria
- fossil man
- fossils
- Great Britain
- historical documents
- history
- Hominidae
- Mammalia
- paleontology
- Piltdown England
- Piltdown man
- Primates
- skull
- Sudan
- Sussex England
- teeth
- Tetrapoda
- Theria
- United Kingdom
- Vertebrata
- Western Europe
- Zambia
- Eoanthropus
- Eoanthropus dawsoni
- Singa
- Dawson, Charles
- Smith Woodward, Arthur
- Broken Hill Site