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57-584: Kenya Wildlife Service conserves and manages national parks, wildlife conservation areas, and sanctuaries under its jurisdiction. In 1989 Richard Leakey was appointed the head of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Department (WMCD) by President Daniel Arap Moi in response to the international outcry over the poaching of elephants and the impact it was having on the wildlife of Kenya. Well-armed anti-poaching units were formed and were authorized to shoot poachers on sight. The poaching menace

114-414: A Land Rover and went into the trapping and skeleton supply business with Kamoya Kimeu . Already a skilled horseman, outdoorsman, Land Rover mechanic, amateur archaeologist, and expedition leader, he learned to identify bones, skills which all pointed to a path he did not yet wish to take, simply because his father was on it. The bone business turned into a safari business in 1961. In 1962, he obtained

171-443: A kidney transplant from his brother, Philip, and recovered to full health. Donald Johanson and Leakey held different views about human evolution. They held a debate on Cronkite's Universe , a talk show hosted by Walter Cronkite , in 1981. He transformed our understanding of the diversity of human ancestors with the fossil found at Koobi Fora on the shores of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Turkana Boy , discovered by Kamoya Kimeu ,

228-1617: A "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge , including mathematics , engineering science , and medical science ". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence, is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Benjamin Franklin (1756), Charles Babbage (1816), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Jagadish Chandra Bose (1920), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1945), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955), Satyendra Nath Bose (1958), and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Raghunath Mashelkar (1998), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan (2003), Atta-ur-Rahman (2006), Andre Geim (2007), Bai Chunli (2014), James Dyson (2015), Ajay Kumar Sood (2015), Subhash Khot (2017), Elon Musk (2018), Elaine Fuchs (2019) and around 8,000 others in total, including over 280 Nobel Laureates since 1900. As of October 2018 , there are approximately 1,689 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members, of whom 85 are Nobel Laureates. Fellowship of

285-708: A Chair (all of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society ). Members of the 10 Sectional Committees change every three years to mitigate in-group bias . Each Sectional Committee covers different specialist areas including: New Fellows are admitted to the Society at a formal admissions day ceremony held annually in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation which reads: "We who have hereunto subscribed, do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote

342-711: A Kenya-based charitable organisation. The charity was established to provide support to conservationists in Africa directly on the ground via the use of blogs. This enables individuals anywhere to play a direct and interactive role in the survival of some of the world's most precious species. The organisation played a significant role in the saving of the Democratic Republic of Congo 's mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park in January 2007 after

399-549: A Law Enforcement Academy is situated in Manyani Area , which caters for all law enforcers' paramilitary training. Manyani area was established in 1990. KWS run several education centres: These are located inside National Parks, and run programs to encourage people to care for their environment. It is aimed at local people, particularly school groups, but is open to anyone. Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey FRS (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022)

456-545: A degree and become better acquainted with her. He completed his high school requirements in six months; meanwhile Margaret obtained her degree at the University of Edinburgh . He passed the entrance exams for admission to college, but in 1965 he and Margaret decided to marry and return to Kenya. His father offered him a job at Centre for Prehistory and Palaeontology. He worked excavating at Lake Baringo and continued his photographic safari business, making enough money to buy

513-464: A family of renowned archeologists. His mother, Mary Leakey, discovered evidence in 1978 that man walked upright much earlier than had been thought. She and her husband, Louis Leakey, unearthed skulls of ape-like early humans, shedding fresh light on our ancestors. Leakey stated that he was an atheist and a humanist . He died at his home outside Nairobi, on 2 January 2022, less than a month after his 77th birthday. In accordance with his wishes, he

570-625: A house in Karen , a pleasant suburb of Nairobi. Their daughter Anna was born in 1969, the same year that Leakey and Margaret divorced. He married his colleague Meave Epps in 1970 and they had two daughters, Louise (born 1972) and Samira (1974). Richard formed the Kenya Museum Associates (now Kenya Museum Society) with influential Kenyans in 1955. They aimed to "Kenyanise" and improve the National Museum . They offered

627-461: A member of the Leakeys' team, in 1984, was the nearly complete skeleton of a Homo ergaster (though some, including Leakey, call it erectus ) who died 1.6 million years ago at about age 9–12. Leakey and Roger Lewin describe the experience of this find and their interpretation of it, in their book Origins Reconsidered (1992). Shortly after the discovery of Turkana Boy, Leakey and his team made

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684-639: A number of institutions," Mr Kenyatta said. In 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Leakey chairman of the board of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Although he was chairman rather than director, Leakey played an active role in KWS policies. He brokered a deal on the extension of the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway , allowing the railway to pass over Nairobi National Park on an 18 m tall viaduct . Leakey felt that

741-565: A press conference in January 1994. He was replaced by David Western as the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Richard Leakey wrote about his experiences at the Kenya Wildlife Service in his book Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures (2001). In May 1995, Richard Leakey joined some Kenyan intellectuals in launching a new political party – the Safina Party , which in Swahili means " Noah's Ark ". The Safina party

798-487: A private pilot licence and took tours to the Olduvai Gorge . It was from a casual aerial survey that he noted the potential of Lake Natron 's shores for palaeontology. He went looking for fossils in a Land Rover, but could find none, until his parents assigned Glynn Isaac to go with him. Louis was so impressed with their finds that he gave them National Geographic money for a month's expedition. They explored in

855-774: A rebel uprising threatened to eliminate the highly vulnerable population. In April 2007, he was appointed interim chairman of Transparency International 's Kenya branch. The same year, Leakey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . In June 2013, Leakey was awarded the Isaac Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Association . Leakey's groundbreaking work contributed to

912-560: A thunderstorm. The map led Leakey to expect volcanic rock below him but he saw sediments. Visiting the region with Howell by helicopter, he saw tools and fossils everywhere. In his mind, he started formulating a new enterprise. In 1968 Louis and Richard attended a meeting of the Research and Exploration Committee of the National Geographic Society to ask for money for Omo. Catching Louis by surprise, Richard asked

969-737: Is confirmed by the Council in April, and a secret ballot of Fellows is held at a meeting in May. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting. An indicative allocation of 18 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates from Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences; and up to 10 from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences. A further maximum of six can be 'Honorary', 'General' or 'Royal' Fellows. Nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by Sectional Committees, each with at least 12 members and

1026-409: Is in danger of extinction , is also being monitored. Within KWS there are several services, each responsible for a different area of work: This branch of the KWS works outside the national parks. They work instead in areas such as wildlife corridors , and teach the communities living there to encourage conservation and look after their resources. The job of this service is to eliminate poaching in

1083-421: Is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society (a proposer and a seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, which was criticised for supposedly establishing an old boy network and elitist gentlemen's club . The certificate of election (see for example ) includes a statement of the principal grounds on which

1140-650: The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank . However, Leakey found himself sidelined after the money arrived, and his reforms were blocked in the courts. He was sacked from his cabinet post in 2001. Leakey left Kenya for the U.S. in 2002 and became a professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University , New York. He was also Chair of the Turkana Basin Institute. In 2004, Leakey founded and chaired WildlifeDirect ,

1197-426: The post-nominal letters FRS . Every year, fellows elect up to ten new foreign members. Like fellows, foreign members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 , there are around 165 foreign members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS . Honorary Fellowship is an honorary academic title awarded to candidates who have given distinguished service to

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1254-695: The Coryndon Museum, and Mary Leakey , director of the Leakey excavations at Olduvai , and his two brothers, Jonathan and Philip . The Leakey brothers had a very active childhood. All the boys had ponies and belonged to the Langata Pony Club. Sometimes the whole club were guests at the Leakeys' for holidays and vacations. Leakey's parents founded the Dalmatian Club of East Africa and won a prize in 1957. Dogs and many other pets shared

1311-559: The Kenya Wildlife Service ten days to build. The pyre also contained exotic animal skins. The amount of ivory destroyed equaled about 5% of the global stock. Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba was also in attendance. Kenya has over 39 designated national parks and reserves: KWS runs specific programmes to assist Kenyan species and their habitats that are in particular danger. They have forest and Wetland conservation programmes, as well as specific elephant and rhino projects to help them recover from poaching . The hirola , which

1368-588: The Kenya Wildlife Service, the World Bank approved grants worth $ 140 million. Richard Leakey, President Moi, and the WMCD made the international news headlines when a stockpile of 12 tons of ivory was burned in 1989 in Nairobi National Park . Richard Leakey's confrontational approach to the issue of human–wildlife conflict in national parks did not win him friends. His view was that parks were self-contained ecosystems that had to be fenced in and

1425-502: The Koobi Fora camp came to be located, Leakey hired primarily young researchers. The students included John Harris and Bernard Wood. Also present was a team of Africans under Kamoya: a geochemist, Paul Abel, and a photographer, Bob Campbell . Margaret was the archaeologist. In contrast to his father, Richard ran a disciplined and tidy camp, although, in order to find fossils, he did push the expedition harder than it wished. In 1969

1482-459: The Leakey home. The Leakey boys participated in games conducted by both adults and children, in which they tried to imitate early humans, catching springhare and small antelope by hand on the Serengeti . They drove lions and jackals from the kill to see if they could do it. In 1956, aged eleven, Leakey fell from his horse, fracturing his skull and nearly dying as a result. Incidentally, it

1539-528: The Omo in 1967, Leakey's contingent was attacked by crocodiles , which destroyed their wooden boat. Expedition members barely escaped with their lives. Richard radioed Louis for a new, aluminium boat, which the National Geographic Society was happy to supply. On site, Kamoya Kimeu found a hominid fossil. Leakey took it to be Homo erectus , but Louis identified it as Homo sapiens . It

1596-439: The Royal Society has been described by The Guardian as "the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar " with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows (FRS), honorary (HonFRS) and foreign members (ForMemRS) are elected annually in late April or early May, from a pool of around 700 proposed candidates each year. New Fellows can only be nominated by existing Fellows for one of

1653-663: The Society, we shall be free from this Obligation for the future". Since 2014, portraits of Fellows at the admissions ceremony have been published without copyright restrictions in Wikimedia Commons under a more permissive Creative Commons license which allows wider re-use. In addition to the main fellowships of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS & HonFRS), other fellowships are available which are applied for by individuals, rather than through election. These fellowships are research grant awards and holders are known as Royal Society Research Fellows . In addition to

1710-612: The cause of science, but do not have the kind of scientific achievements required of Fellows or Foreign Members. Honorary Fellows include the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (2022), Bill Bryson (2013), Melvyn Bragg (2010), Robin Saxby (2015), David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008), Onora O'Neill (2007), John Maddox (2000), Patrick Moore (2001) and Lisa Jardine (2015). Honorary Fellows are entitled to use

1767-496: The committee to divert the $ 25,000 intended for Omo to new excavations to be conducted under his leadership at Koobi Fora. Richard won, but chairman Leonard Carmichael told him he'd better find something or never "come begging at our door again". Louis graciously congratulated Richard. By that time the board of the National Museum was packed with Kenyan supporters of Richard. They appointed him administrative director. The curator, Robert Carcasson, resigned in protest, and Leakey

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1824-665: The country. KWS has a training institute, also referred to as Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. The facility located in Naivasha , is a middle-level college registered with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as a TVET institution. It offers specialized certificate and diploma courses in natural resource management, ecology and tourism in an effort to enhance conservation , management and sustainability of wildlife bio-diversity in Kenya and globally. KWS also has

1881-480: The discovery of a cranium of Paranthropus boisei caused great excitement. A Homo rudolfensis skull ( KNM ER 1470 ) and a Homo erectus skull ( KNM ER 3733 ), discovered in 1972 and 1975, respectively, were among the most significant finds of Leakey's earlier expeditions. In 1978 an intact cranium of Homo erectus ( KNM ER 3883 ) was discovered. Leakey was diagnosed with a terminal kidney disease in 1969. Ten years later he became seriously ill but received

1938-545: The discovery of a skull ( KNM WT 17000 , known as "Black Skull") of a new species, Australopithecus aethiopicus (or Paranthropus aethiopicus ). Richard shifted away from palaeontology in 1989, but his wife Meave Leakey and daughter Louise Leakey continue to conduct palaeontological research in Northern Kenya. In 1989 Richard Leakey was appointed the head of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Department (WMCD) by President Daniel Arap Moi in response to

1995-528: The fellowships described below: Every year, up to 52 new fellows are elected from the United Kingdom, the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations , and Ireland, which make up around 90% of the society. Each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use

2052-540: The good of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that, whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our hands, that we desire to withdraw from

2109-590: The humans kept out. Leakey's bold and incorruptible nature also offended many local politicians. In 2016, Leakey was named Conservationist of the Year by The Perfect World Foundation and won "The Fragile Rhino" prize at the Elephant Ball in Gothenburg, Sweden . In 1993, a small propeller-driven plane piloted by Richard Leakey crashed, crushing his lower legs, both of which were later amputated. Sabotage

2166-527: The international outcry over the poaching of elephants and the impact it was having on the wildlife of Kenya. The department was replaced by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in 1990, and Leakey became its first chairman. With characteristically bold steps Leakey created special, well-armed anti-poaching units that were authorised to shoot poachers on sight. The poaching menace was dramatically reduced. Impressed by Leakey's transformation of

2223-511: The largest ever pile of ivory for destruction in the Nairobi National Park . The pile consisted of 105 tonnes of elephant ivory from about 8,000 elephants and 1.35 tonnes of horns from 343 rhinoceroses . Estimates for the total black market value of the destroyed contraband range from $ 150 million to $ 220 million. The ivory was transported to the site in shipping containers then stacked into towers up to 10 ft (3.0 m) tall and 20 ft (6.1 m) in diameter. The ivory towers took personnel from

2280-498: The museum £5000, one-third of its yearly budget, if it would place Leakey in a responsible position, and he became an observer on the board of directors. Joel Ojal, the government official in charge of the museum, and a member of the Associates, directed the chairman of the board to start placing Kenyans on it. Plans for the museum had not matured when Louis, intentionally or not, found a way to remove his confrontational son from

2337-464: The national parks and stop illegal trade. The Kenyan government has also erected fences which keeps the precious animals/wildlife inside the national park. The Kenya wildlife service, through its rangers, offer extensive patrols and protection of the country’s wildlife in its wild spaces and as a result hundreds of rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty. This service ensures that healthy breeding populations of species are maintained throughout

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2394-514: The post nominal letters HonFRS . Statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough (1983) and John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne (1991). The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British royal family for election as Royal Fellow of the Royal Society . As of 2023 there are four royal fellows: Elizabeth II

2451-552: The proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations made each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The Council of the Royal Society oversees the selection process and appoints 10 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees, to recommend the strongest candidates for election to the Fellowship. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates

2508-607: The recognition of Africa as the birthplace of humankind, that contributed as evidence that the earliest humans had lived on the African continent. He was known to have spearheaded campaigns to stop poaching in Kenya. Aside his contributions to Public Service, he was known to have contributed immensely to the Civil Service; "Besides his distinguished career in public service, Dr Leakey is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya's civil society where he founded and successfully ran

2565-651: The scene. Louis attended a lunch with Emperor Haile Selassie and President Jomo Kenyatta . The conversation turned to fossils, and the Emperor wanted to know why none had been found in Ethiopia . Louis developed this inquiry into permission to excavate on the Omo River . The expedition consisted of three contingents: French, under Camille Arambourg , American, under F. Clark Howell , and Kenyan, led by Richard. Louis could not go because of his arthritis. Crossing

2622-612: The tail end of President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi's government. Leakey co-founded the "Turkana Basin Institute" in an academic partnership with Stony Brook University , where he was an anthropology professor. He served as the chair of the Turkana Basin Institute until his death. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey was born on 19 December 1944 in Nairobi . As a small boy, Leakey lived in Nairobi with his parents: Louis Leakey , curator of

2679-561: The viaduct would set an example for the rest of Africa in balancing economic development with environmental protection. However, other Kenyan conservationists have opposed railway construction in the park. Angelina Jolie was to direct a film about Leakey's life, with Leakey in early 2016 expressing his confidence that the film would be shot in Kenya. Leakey spoke fluent Kiswahili and moved effortlessly between white and black communities. While he rarely talked about race in public, racism and gender inequality infuriated him. Leakey came from

2736-546: The vicinity of Peninj near the lake, where Leakey was in charge of the administrative details. Bored, he returned to Nairobi temporarily, but at that moment, Kamoya Kimeu discovered a fossil of Australopithecus boisei . A second expedition left Leakey feeling that he was being excluded from the most significant part of the operation, the scientific analysis. In 1964, on his second Lake Natron expedition, Leakey met an archaeologist named Margaret Cropper. When Margaret returned to England, Leakey decided to follow suit to study for

2793-494: Was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist , conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife conservation . He was Director of the National Museum of Kenya , founded the NGO WildlifeDirect , and was the chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service . Leakey served in the powerful office of cabinet secretary and head of public service during

2850-751: Was buried on a hill along the Rift Valley. Leakey's early published works include Origins and The People of the Lake (both with Roger Lewin as co-author), The Illustrated Origin of Species , and The Making of Mankind (1981). Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society ( FRS , ForMemRS and HonFRS ) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made

2907-680: Was dramatically reduced. The transformation of the Kenya Wildlife Service got World Bank approved grants worth $ 140 million. Richard Leakey, President Moi, and the WMCD made the international news headlines when a stockpile of 12 tons of ivory was burned in 1989 in Nairobi National Park . These successes saw David Western appointed to serve as Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) by retired President Moi in 1994. Others who served as KWS Directors are: On 20 July 2011 Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki set on fire nearly 5 tonnes of elephant ivory ( 335 tusks), with an estimated value of USD$ 16m. On 30 April 2016, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set alight

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2964-428: Was left with the museum at his command, which he, like Louis before him, used as a base of operations. Although there was friendly rivalry and contention between Louis and Richard, relations remained good. Each took over for the other when one was busy with something else or incapacitated, and Richard continued to inform his father immediately of hominid finds. In the first expedition to Allia Bay on Lake Turkana, where

3021-421: Was not a Royal Fellow, but provided her patronage to the society, as all reigning British monarchs have done since Charles II of England . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1951) was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination and a period of peer-reviewed selection. Each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership

3078-465: Was routinely harassed and even its application to become an official political party was not approved until 1997. In 1997, international donor institutions froze their aid to Kenya because of widespread corruption. To placate the donors, Moi appointed Richard Leakey as Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service in 1999. Leakey's second stint in the civil service lasted two years. He sacked 25,000 civil servants and obtained £250 million of funds from

3135-481: Was suspected but never proven. While in the hospital, Leakey told President Moi, a religious man, not to pray for him, but act on matters pending for the Kenya Wildlife Service. Thereafter, Richard Leakey walked on artificial limbs . Around this time the Kenyan government announced that a secret probe had found evidence of corruption and mismanagement in the Kenya Wildlife Service. An annoyed Leakey resigned publicly in

3192-406: Was the oldest of the species found at that time, dating to 160,000 years, and was the first find contemporaneous with Homo neanderthalensis . During the identification process, Leakey came to feel that the college men were patronising him. During the Omo expedition of 1967, Leakey visited Nairobi and on the return flight the pilot flew over Lake Rudolph (renamed Lake Turkana from 1975) to avoid

3249-425: Was this incident that saved his parents' marriage. Louis was seriously considering leaving Mary for his secretary, Rosalie Osborn. As the battle with Mary raged in the household, Leakey begged his father from his sickbed not to leave. That was the deciding factor. Louis broke up with Rosalie and the family lived in happy harmony for a few years more. Leakey chose to support himself, borrowed £500 from his parents for

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