Colin Groves

Colin Groves
Born(1942-06-24)24 June 1942
United Kingdom
Died30 November 2017(2017-11-30) (aged 75)
Canberra, ACT, Australia
Alma materUniversity College London (B.Sc.)
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine (Ph.D.)
Known forBiological classification of Homo ergaster
Scientific career
FieldsBiological Anthropology
Palaeoanthropology
Biogeography
Primatology
Mammal classification
InstitutionsAustralian National University
University of California, Berkeley
Queen Elizabeth College
University of Cambridge

Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was Professor of Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.

Education

Born in England, Groves completed a Bachelor of Science at University College London in 1963, and a Doctor of Philosophy at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1966. From 1966 to 1973, he was a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Queen Elizabeth College and the University of Cambridge.

Career

Groves emigrated to Australia in 1973 and joined the Australian National University, where he was promoted to full professor in 2000 and remained emeritus professor until his death.

Along with the Czech biologist Professor Vratislav Mazák, Groves was the describer of Homo ergaster. Groves also wrote Primate Taxonomy published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 2001, and Ungulate Taxonomy, co-authored by Peter Grubb (2011, Johns Hopkins Press).

He was an active member of the Australian Skeptics and had many published skeptical papers, as well as research papers covering his other research interests. He also conducted regular debates with creationists and anti-evolutionists. Groves opposed the arguments of creationism, stating "It is a great mistake to ignore the threat: it will not just go away, it must be countered. ... Scientists, but most especially archaeologists, are in the front line; we, not the artists or the politicians, are the ones with ammunition to stem the tide of creationist rubbish, and relegate it to Monty Python's Flying Circus where it belongs."

Research interests

Groves' research interests included human evolution, primates, mammalian taxonomy, skeletal analysis, biological anthropology, ethnobiology, cryptozoology, and biogeography. He conducted extensive fieldwork in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, India, Iran, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[citation needed]

Selected publications


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