Lee Berger
Lee R. Berger is an award-winning researcher, author, paleoanthropologist, and speaker. For more than two decades, his explorations into human origins in Africa, Asia, and Micronesia have resulted in many new discoveries—including the most complete early hominin fossils that belong to a new species of early human ancestor (Australopithecus sediba)—while revolutionizing applied exploration methods and technologies. In November 2021, Berger led a team of international researchers and discovered the first partial skull of a Homo naledi child that was found in the remote depths of the Rising Star cave in Johannesburg, South Africa. Berger is a fellow of both the Royal Society of South Africa (FRSSAf) and the Explorers Club, and is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAf). He is currently a National Geographic Explorer at Large and was named one of Time’s magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and 2016’s Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. He has appeared widely on television and radio, including NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition, and All Things Considered and PBS’s NewsHour and Alan Alda’s Scientific American Frontiers. Berger received a B.A. in anthropology from Georgia Southern University, his Ph.D. in paleoanthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand, and became a postdoctoral research fellow in the university’s department of anatomy and human biology. He is currently the The Phillip Tobias Chair in Palaeoanthropology at the University of Witwatersrand. He has written numerous books, including In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins, The Official Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind, and a book for younger readers, The Skull in the Rock.
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