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Davidson Black
Davidson Black (July 25, 1884 – March 15, 1934) was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his naming of Sinanthropus pekinensis (now Homo erectus pekinensis). He was Chairman of the Geological Survey of China and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 (pinyin: Bù Dáshēng) in China.
Black was born in 1884, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When he was a child, he would spend many summers near or on the Kawartha lakes. As a teenager, he would carry heavy loads of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company. He also enjoyed collecting fossils along the banks of the Don River. He also became friends with First Nations people, and learned one First Nations language. Black also searched unsuccessfully for gold along the Kawartha lakes.
Black showed an interest in biology at an early age, despite being born to a family associated with the legal profession.
In 1906, Black earned a degree in medical science at the University of Toronto. He continued in school, studying comparative anatomy.
In 1909, Black became an anatomy instructor. He spent half a year in 1914 working under a neuroanatomist Grafton Elliot Smith, in Manchester, England. Smith was studying Piltdown Man during this time. This began an interest for Black in human evolution.
In 1917 he joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, where he treated injured returning Canadian soldiers.
In 1919, after his discharge from the Canadian Army Medical Corps, he went to China to work at Peking Union Medical College. Starting as Professor of Neurology and Embryology, he would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned to search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on teaching. During this period Johan Gunnar Andersson, who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill (Zhoukoudian) in 1921, learned in Sweden of Black's fossils examination. He gave Black two human-similar molars to examine. The following year, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, though military unrest involving the National Revolutionary Army caused many western Scientists to leave China, Davidson Black and his family stayed.
Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Western and Chinese scientists. In summer 1926, two molars were discovered by Otto Zdansky, who headed the excavations and who described them in 1927 (Bulletin of the Geolocical Survey, China) as fossils of genus Homo. Black thought they belonged to a new human species and named them Sinanthropus pekinensis. He carried this tooth in a small copper case lined with velvet attached to his belt.
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Davidson Black
Davidson Black (July 25, 1884 – March 15, 1934) was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his naming of Sinanthropus pekinensis (now Homo erectus pekinensis). He was Chairman of the Geological Survey of China and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was known as 步達生 (pinyin: Bù Dáshēng) in China.
Black was born in 1884, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When he was a child, he would spend many summers near or on the Kawartha lakes. As a teenager, he would carry heavy loads of supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company. He also enjoyed collecting fossils along the banks of the Don River. He also became friends with First Nations people, and learned one First Nations language. Black also searched unsuccessfully for gold along the Kawartha lakes.
Black showed an interest in biology at an early age, despite being born to a family associated with the legal profession.
In 1906, Black earned a degree in medical science at the University of Toronto. He continued in school, studying comparative anatomy.
In 1909, Black became an anatomy instructor. He spent half a year in 1914 working under a neuroanatomist Grafton Elliot Smith, in Manchester, England. Smith was studying Piltdown Man during this time. This began an interest for Black in human evolution.
In 1917 he joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, where he treated injured returning Canadian soldiers.
In 1919, after his discharge from the Canadian Army Medical Corps, he went to China to work at Peking Union Medical College. Starting as Professor of Neurology and Embryology, he would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned to search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on teaching. During this period Johan Gunnar Andersson, who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill (Zhoukoudian) in 1921, learned in Sweden of Black's fossils examination. He gave Black two human-similar molars to examine. The following year, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, though military unrest involving the National Revolutionary Army caused many western Scientists to leave China, Davidson Black and his family stayed.
Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Western and Chinese scientists. In summer 1926, two molars were discovered by Otto Zdansky, who headed the excavations and who described them in 1927 (Bulletin of the Geolocical Survey, China) as fossils of genus Homo. Black thought they belonged to a new human species and named them Sinanthropus pekinensis. He carried this tooth in a small copper case lined with velvet attached to his belt.
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