Lee Berger captured in Time
BRAAMFONTEIN – Wits University's very own Lee Berger is recognised by Time as being one of the most influential people in the world.
Time has included Professor Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand to the 2016 Time 100– an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The list, now in its 13th year, recognises the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Berger is an award-winning palaeoanthropologist, researcher, explorer, author and speaker from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits.
His explorations into human origins in Africa over the past two-and-a-half decades have resulted in many new and notable discoveries, including the most complete early hominin fossils found so far, which belong to a new species of early human ancestor, Australopithecus sediba, and a new species of human relative, Homo naledi, announced in 2015.
“It is an honour to be included in the Time 100 and a tribute to the world-class and influential science being produced on the African continent by African scientists and African institutions such as Wits University. This recognition also reflects on the hard work of my colleagues, who are all critical to both the discoveries being made, as well as the interpretations put forward in scientific literature,” said Berger.
“Wits University continues again and again to produce high quality science that reaches and impacts on a global audience and I am thrilled to be part of that. New discoveries continue to be made by my colleagues and me at an ever increasing pace, and I hope, and indeed expect, that the research coming out of palaeoanthropology at Wits will continue to have a significant impact on science worldwide,” added Berger.
As the research professor in human evolution and the public understanding of science at Wits, Berger says he believes that Time’s decision to recognise the influence of his team’s research on world science is partly due to Wits University’s leadership in open access and open sourcing. The university is a signatory to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in the Sciences and Humanities.
Details: University of the Witwatersrand, 011 717 1000.
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