Daniel Lieberman

Daniel E. Lieberman (born June 3, 1964) is a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, where he is the Edwin M Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. He is best known for his research on the evolution of the human head^[1] and the human body.^[2]

Biography

Lieberman was educated at Harvard University, where he got his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He also received a M. Phil from Cambridge University.^[3] He was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows and taught at Rutgers University and the George Washington University before becoming a professor at Harvard University in 2001.

Director of the Skeletal Biology Laboratory at Harvard, Lieberman is on the curatorial board of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, a member of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, and the Scientific Executive Committee of the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation.

Honors and awards

• National Merit Scholar, 1982
• Phi Beta Kappa (Harvard College), 1986
• Summa cum laude, Harvard College
• Frank Knox III Memorial Fellowship, 1986-1987
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1987-1990
• Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows, 1993-1996
• Ig Nobel Prize in Physics, 2009
• Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award, Harvard University, 2009
• Harvard College Professorship, 2010-2015
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2020

Research

Lieberman studies how and why the human body is the way it is, with a primary focus on the evolution of physical activity^[2] His research combines paleontology, anatomy, physiology and experimental biomechanics in the lab and in the field. In his career, he initially focused to a large extent on why and how humans have such unusual heads.^[1] Since 2004 most of his research has focused on the evolution of human locomotion including whether the first hominins were bipeds,^[4] why bipedalism evolved,^[5] the biomechanical challenges of pregnancy in females,^[6] how locomotion affects skeletal function^[7] and, most especially, the evolution of running. His 2004 paper with Dennis Bramble, “Endurance Running and the Evolution of the Genus Homo”^[8] proposed that humans evolved to run long distances to scavenge and hunt. His research on running in general, especially barefoot running^[9][10] was popularized in Chris McDougall's best-selling book Born to Run.^[11] Lieberman is an avid marathon runner, often barefoot, which has earned him the nickname 'The Barefoot Professor'.^[12]

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2016)

Books

• Lieberman, Daniel (2011). The Evolution of the Human Head. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04636
• Lieberman, Daniel (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease. Pantheon Press. ISBN 978-0307741806.
• Lieberman, Daniel (2021). Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Pantheon Press. ISBN 978-1524746988.

Critical studies and reviews of Lieberman's work

• Condie, Bill (Feb–Mar 2014). "[Untitled review]". Coda. Reviews. Cosmos. 55: 106–107. Review of The story of the human body.

References

• Lieberman, Daniel E (2011). The Evolution of the Human Head. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674046368.
• Lieberman, Daniel E (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, Disease. New York, NY, USA: Pantheon. ISBN 978-0-307-37941-2.
• "CURRICULUM VITAE : Daniel Eric Lieberman" (DOC). Scholar.harvard.edu. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
• Zollikofer, C. P. E.; Ponce De León, M. S.; Lieberman, D. E.; Guy, F.; Pilbeam, D.; Likius, A.; MacKaye, H. T.; Vignaud, P.; Brunet, M. (2005). "Virtual cranial reconstruction of Sahelanthropus tchadensis". Nature. 434 (7034): 755–759. Bibcode:2005Natur.434..755Z. doi:10.1038/nature03397. PMID 15815628. S2CID 4362525.
• Lieberman, Daniel E (2010). Jonathann B Losos (ed.). Four legs good, two legs fortuitous: Brains, brawn and the evolution of human bipedalism in In the Light of Evolution. Greenwood Village, CO, USA: Roberts and Company. pp. 55–71.
• Whitcome, K. K.; Shapiro, L. J.; Lieberman, D. E. (2007). "Fetal load and the evolution of lumbar lordosis in bipedal hominins" (PDF). Nature. 450 (7172): 1075–1078. Bibcode:2007Natur.450.1075W. doi:10.1038/nature06342. PMID 18075592. S2CID 10158.
• Lieberman, D. E.; Pearson, O. M.; Polk, J. D.; Demes, B.; Crompton, A. W. (2003). "Optimization of bone growth and remodeling in response to loading in tapered mammalian limbs". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 206 (Pt 18): 3125–3138. doi:10.1242/jeb.00514. PMID 12909694.
• Bramble, D. M.; Lieberman, D. E. (2004). "Endurance running and the evolution of Homo". Nature. 432 (7015): 345–352. Bibcode:2004Natur.432..345B. doi:10.1038/nature03052. PMID 15549097. S2CID 2470602.
• Lieberman, D. E.; Venkadesan, M.; Werbel, W. A.; Daoud, A. I.; d'Andrea, S.; Davis, I. S.; Mang'Eni, R. O.; Pitsiladis, Y. (2010). "Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners". Nature. 463 (7280): 531–535. Bibcode:2010Natur.463..531L. doi:10.1038/nature08723. PMID 20111000. S2CID 216420.
• Lieberman, D. E. (2012). "What We Can Learn About Running from Barefoot Running". Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 40 (2): 63–72. doi:10.1097/JES.0b013e31824ab210. PMID 22257937. S2CID 16480403.
• McDougall, Christopher (2009). Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Knopf. pp. 304. ISBN 978-0-307-26630-9.

12. . Nature. Retrieved 25 September 2013.