Lynn FellmanNina G. Jablonski (born 1953is an American anthropologist and palaeobiologist, known for her research into the evolution of skin color in humans. She is engaged in public education about human evolution, human diversity, and racism. Jablonski grew upon a farm in upstate New York State. With encouragement from her parents, Jablonski began her exploration into the world of science when she was quite young. She recalls exploring the nature around her home, digging for fossils near creeks and trees. Jablonski's interest in studying human evolution stemmed from watching a National Geographic feature on the research of the famous paleoanthropologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, that aired in the mid-1960s. Louis Leakey's study at Olduvai Gorge in East Africa and his focus on the hominid Zinjanthropus boisei sparked Jablonski's attention. She instantly decided that she wanted to pursue the study of human evolution, dismissing her parents' desire for her to attend medical school.Jablonski earned an A.B. degree in biology from Bryn Mawr College in 1975. In the same year, she enrolled in the PhD program in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Working under the primary supervision of paleoanthropologist Gerald Eck, she became interested in the evolution of the African Old World monkeys and completed her PhD in anthropology in 1981 with the dissertation, "Functional Analysis of the Masticatory Apparatus of Theropithecus gelada (Primates: Cercopithecidae)."[8] She has continued to research the evolution of the Old World monkeys and other Old World primates, including tarsiers, lemurs, and chimpanzees, until the present day. She has held teaching positions at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Western Australia. During these years, Jablonski began her research on the evolution of human bipedalism and skin color.[9]Jablonski is married to George Chaplin, a geospatial scientist, who is another professor as well as her research collaborator at Penn State University.[9] She can write and speak fluently in Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese), and is also able to read in both Latin and German.[9] Read More Read Less