NOTE: As of 5/20/2013, Mr. Leakey will no longer be able to attend the conference. We will still be awarding him the Isaac Asimov Science Award.
Richard Leakey’s prolific career as paleoanthropologist, politician, and environmentalist has spanned five decades. His pioneering work in the Turkana Basin region of northern Kenya has unearthed much of the existing fossil evidence for human evolution.
Currently he serves as chairman of the Turkana Basin Institute, a scientific research organization which builds upon the 40-plus years of prehistory research in the area around Lake Turkana. In addition, Leakey is a Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and former director of both the National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Wildlife Service.