Obituaries
Posted April 26, 2000
Sherwood Washburn, father of modern primatology
Sherwood
Larned Washburn, the father of modern primatology who first
glimpsed the evolution of human behavior in the actions of
monkeys and apes, died Sunday from pneumonia at Alta Bates
Medical Center in Berkeley. He was 88.
A professor of anthropology at Berkeley from 1958 to his retirement in 1978 and one of a tiny number of faculty members appointed as University Professor for the nine-campus system, Washburn virtually established the field of primatology in the 1950s following his studies on baboon colonies in Kenya.
For the next two decades, his theories dominated interpretations of human social evolution and his teachings inspired several generations of students.
Washburn was the first to propose that tool use, hunting and a gender division in labor had been critical in human evolution. He also saw 40 years ago that humans had evolved from an ancestor that walked on its knuckles, like contemporary great apes -- an idea that only this year has gripped the anthropological world anew.
In one of his famous articles on the evolution of man, a 1978 article in Scientific American, Washburn had this to say about knuckle-walking: "Gorillas and chimpanzees (and the men who play some of the forward positions in American football), however, have developed a form of locomotion called knuckle walking that enables the apes (if not the football players) to walk normally as they carry objects between their fingers and their palm."
His lectures showing how bones, joints and muscles related to movement and social behavior in humans and other primates often won standing ovations from students.
Born in 1911, Washburn was the younger son of the dean of Cambridge's Episcopal Theological School. He received a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1935 and a doctorate in 1940, also from Harvard.
From a position at Columbia University as assistant professor of anatomy, Washburn moved to the University of Chicago where he was professor of anthropology for 11 years and chair of the department.
During his illustrious career, Washburn won virtually every medal and prize given in his field.
Washburn is survived by two sons, Sherwood of Brooklyn, and Stan of Berkeley and five grandchildren. His brother, Bradford, is founder of Boston's Museum of Science. Memorial services will be announced.
April 26 - May 3,
2000 (Volume 28, Number 30)
Copyright 2000, The Regents of the University of
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