Elwyn Simons has held professional appointments at Yale University (1960-1977), Duke University (1977-present), and was the Director of the Duke Primate Center (1977-1991) and Scientific Director (1991-2001). He has authored nearly 300 scientific publications and is the holder of many high honors. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, as well as many other professional associations. He was elected a "Knight of the National Order" by the government of Madagascar and has been the recipient of many awards including the prestigious Charles R. Darwin Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. For nearly a half century, Dr. Simons has dominated the study of primate evolution. The volume summarizes the current state of knowledge in many aspects of primate and human evolution that have been studied by Simons and his colleagues and place it in a broader paleontological and historical perspective. Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins contains the results of new research and reviews of many of the critical issues in primate and human evolution during the last half of the twentieth century as well as aspects of African paleontology and primate conservation in Madagascar. The authors are an extremely distinguished group of international authorities on all aspects of primate and human evolution and primate behavior. Although linked primarily by their connection to Simons own career, the chapters include a wide range of important new works that are valuable contributions to the field of physical anthropology and paleontology and are certain to be widely cited and used in teaching. Several of the papers (Simons et al., Wing et al., Seiffert et al., Gingerich, OConner) are broad reviews of the history of research and discoveries in the fossil deposits of the Fayum, Egypt that have formed the background of our understanding of anthropoid evolution for over a century and will be important researchers for students and researchers in primate evolution and African paleontology. Similarly, broad reviews of the history of primate paleontology and human evolution (Rasmussen, Pilbeam, Wood; Sussman and Hart) will be essential reading in courses in primate and human evolution as well as the history of physical anthropology. Other authors describe new research results on early anthropoid fossils from Egypt (Kay and Simons) Tanzania (Stevens) and Myanmar (Gunnell and Ciochon). The chapter by John Oakley, Professor of Law at the University of California addresses the challenges to the teaching of evolution in schools- both public and universities world wide. Another major focus of several chapters are the primates of Madagascar. Two chapters are reviews of the extraordinary radiation of fossil lemurs (Godfrey et al, Jungers et al.). Two review the behavior and conservation of living lemurs (Taylor and Wright) and the chapter by Tattersall bridges the two major sections of the book by discussing about the biogeographic history of Malagasy mammals.

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Elwyn Simons has held professional appointments at Yale University (1960-1977), Duke University (1977-present), and was the Director of the Duke Primate Center (1977-1991) and Scientific Director (1991-2001). He has authored nearly 300 scientific publications and is the holder of many high honors. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, as well as many other professional associations. He was elected a Knight of the National Order by the government of Madagascar and has been the recipient of many awards including the prestigious Charles R. Darwin Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

The Life and career of Elwyn Simons.- Elwyn Simons and the Synthesis of Two Intellectual Traditions.- Five decades of Research in Egypt.- Ear regions of Aegyptopithecus and Parapithecus: Implications for Platyrrhine Origins.- Fossil Plants and Vegetation of the Fayum.- Geology, Paleoenvironment, and Age of the Oldest Primate-bearing Fossil C. Clyde, and Mark Mathison Locality in the Fayum Depression.- Early Evolution of Whales: Results of A Century of Research in Egypt.- Paleogene Mammals from Sub-Saharan Africa:A View from the eastern Rift.- Searching for New African Frontiers.- Revisiting the Postcranial Evidence for Amphipithecid Anthropoid Affinities.- The Simons Legacy: Two Decades of Lemur Conservation in Madagascar.- Vicariance or Dispersal in the Origin of Madagascar¿s Mammals.- The Secrets of Lemur Teeth.- Grasping the Past: The Hands and Feet of Giant Lemurs.- Aging Lemurs: Older and Better.- Hominid Origins over Four Decades.- The Behavior and Ecology of our Earliest Hominid Ancestors.- LeGros Clark and the Study of Human Evolution.- Human Evolution and the Challenge of Creationism.