Louise Leakey

Her Highness Louise, Princess of Merode
Born	(1972-03-21) 21 March 1972 (age 52) Nairobi, Kenya
Alma mater	United World College of the Atlantic University of Bristol University College, London
Known for	Youngest documented person to find hominoid fossil
Spouse	Prince Emmanuel de Merode ​ ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	Princess Seiyia de Merode Princess Alexia de Merode
Parent(s)	Richard Leakey Meave Epps
Relatives	House of Merode (by marriage)
Scientific career
Fields	Paleontology

Princess Louise de Merode (née Leakey, born 21 March 1972) is a Kenyan paleontologist and anthropologist. She conducts research and field work on human fossils in Eastern Africa.[1]

Early life and education

Louise Leakey was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician Richard Leakey and British paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey in 1972, the same year that her paleoanthropologist grandfather, Louis Leakey, died. She first became actively involved in fossil discoveries in 1977, when at the age of five she became the youngest documented person to find a hominoid fossil.[2]

Leakey earned her International Baccalaureate from United World College of the Atlantic and a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and biology from the University of Bristol. She earned a PhD from University College, London[3] in 2001.

Career

In 1993, Leakey joined her mother as a co-leader of paleontological expeditions in northern Kenya. The Koobi Fora research project has been the main program behind some of the most notable hominid fossil discoveries of the past two decades, the most recent being Kenyanthropus platyops.[1]

Leakey has promoted an initiative to place digital models of fossil collections in a virtual laboratory, African Fossils, where models can be downloaded, 3D printed or cut in cardboard for reassembly.[4]

Personal life

In 2003, Leakey married Prince Emmanuel de Merode, a Belgian primatologist. She is styled princesse de Merode by marriage. The couple have two daughters.[5][6]

v t e Leakey family tree
James Leakey (1775–1865)[i] Eliza Hubbard Woolmer (1793–1855)[ii] James Shirley Leakey (1824–1871) ^[citation needed] Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827–1881)[ii] 9 others[ii] Rev. Arundell Leakey (1853–1924) Rev. Harry Leakey (1868–1940) Elizabeth Laing (1873–1925)[iii][iv] Arundell Gray Arundell Leakey (1885–1954)[iii][iv] 5 others Henrietta Wilfrida Avern (1902–1993) Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey[iv] (1903–1972) Mary Douglas Nicol (1913–1996) 3 others Nigel Gray Leakey (1913–1941)[iii][iv] Robert Dove Leakey (1914–2013) Maj. Gen. Arundell Rea Leakey (1915–1999) Agnes Florence Leakey (1917–2006)[iv] Colin Louis Avern Leakey (1933–2018) Meave Epps (b. 1942) Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (1944–2022) Margaret Cropper Jonathan Harry Erskine Leakey (1940–2021) Philip Leakey (b. 1949) Lt. Gen. Arundell David Leakey (b. 1952) Louise Leakey (b. 1972) Emmanuel, Prince de Mérode (b. 1970)
Notes: O'Donoghue, F. M.; Remington, V. (revised) (2004). "Leakey, James (1775–1865), miniature painter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16244. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) "Eliza Hubbard Woolmer, wife of James Leakey". Artsandculture.google.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022. Elizabeth Hubbard Woolmer was born on 20 December 1793. ... On 28 August 1815 she married the artist James Leakey (1775-1865) at St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter (2). They had eleven children. ... Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827-1881) "Serjeant Nigel Gray Leakey | War Casualty Details". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022. NIGEL GRAY LEAKEY ... Died 19 May 1941 Age 28 years old ... Son of Arundell Gray A. and Elizabeth Leakey, of Kiganjo, Kenya. Lean, Mary (26 January 2007). "Agnes Hofmeyr, Worker for reconciliation in Africa". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2022. Agnes Leakey, worker for reconciliation: born Limuru, Kenya 8 May 1917; married 1946 Bremer Hofmeyr (died 1993; one son, and one son deceased); died Johannesburg 1 December 2006. ... Agnes Leakey was born in Limuru, Kenya, in 1917, the youngest child of Gray Leakey, cousin of the anthropologist Louis Leakey, and his first wife, Elizabeth. ... in 1926, when Elizabeth died ... She married a South African colleague, Bremer Hofmeyr, in 1946. ... in ... 1954 ... Mau Mau fighters ... attacked her father's farm, killed her stepmother and abducted her father. ... [he was] buried alive, in a shallow grave on Mount Kenya. ... she lost her eldest brother, Nigel Leakey, in 1941 at Colito, where he won the Victoria Cross. Three years after Bremer's death, in 1993, their elder son, Murray, was killed in a car accident in Johannesburg.

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)

References

1. Mitchell, Ryan (November 2003). "Anthropologist Louise Leakey carries 'family banner'". Archived from the original on 11 December 2003. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
2. Pearson, Stephanie (2003-12). "Louise Leakey" in "XX Factor". Outside Magazine, December 2003.
3. "Bios: Louise Leakey". Retrieved 21 November 2014.
4. "Autodesk & Dr. Louise Leakey Share 3.3-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools with the World via 3D Printing | 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing". 3dprint.com. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
5. "Who tried to kill the man who protects the Congo gorillas?". The Independent. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
6. Bowman-Kruhm, Mary (2005). The Leakeys: A Biography. ISBN 0-313-32985-0

External links

• Leakey Foundation
• African Fossils
• Koobi Fora Research Project
• Louise Leakey at TED
  • "A dig for humanity's origins" (TED2008)