The Short Biography of Prof. Lee R. Berger – A Paleoanthropologist

The Short Biography of Prof. Lee R. Berger – A Paleoanthropologist – Speaking about the paleoanthropology cannot be separated by the presence of Prof. Lee R. Berger. He was born on December 22, 1965. Berger is an American born South African. He is working as a paleoanthropologist. In addition, he also participates as National Geographic Explorer in Residence. He has published a lot of publications related to the paleoanthropology field. Most of his publications are open access. Therefore, a lot of people can look for some information about paleoanthropology. Berger is also an active keynote speaker at some conferences. He can attend around hundred years of conferences and talks interview. A lot of people use his discovery as the literature review and basic concept for their research.

The story of Berger as the paleoanthropologist begins during his time in a bachelor’s degree. He was studying anthropology and archeology in the minor of geology at Georgia Southern University. He graduated from this university in 1989. After that, he continued his study in the major of Paleoanthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa for his doctoral studies. His advisor was Professor Philip Tobias. In this university, he was focusing on the early hominins especially shoulder girdle. Berger was graduated in 1994. Then, he continued his career by working as the researcher in the Gladysvale site in 1991. He and his team found the first early hominin from the sites. This discovery was a turning point for his career since the Gladysvale site became the first site to find the early hominin in South Africa. Due to his achievement, he was accepted as the research officer in Wits especially in Paleo-Anthropology Research Unit (PARU).

Berger continued his study as the postdoctoral research fellow in PARU. In this era, he worked with his team to do some researches about fossil hominin. Since he was succeed to bring his team in the excavations project, he was appointed as the Reader of Human Evolution and Public Understanding of Science. Since he has published a lot of journals especially open access journals, he was accepted as the research professor in paleoanthropology in the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) and the Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (CoE Pal) in University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Berger also completes his career by joining some organizations such as Paleoanthropological Scientific Trust (PAST) (1994 – 2001), World Heritage Site Status for the UNESCO, Makapansgat site development committee, and Jane Goodall Trust South Africa.