Pääbo
Svante Pääbo is a Swedish geneticist known for founding the field of paleogenetics and for his work on the genomes of extinct hominins. He serves as director of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where his research focuses on retrieving and analyzing DNA from ancient remains to illuminate human evolution and population history.
Education and career: Pääbo studied biology at Uppsala University, earning his PhD in 1986. He then conducted
Research contributions: Pääbo’s group pioneered paleogenetics by adapting DNA technologies to ancient specimens. In 1997, his
Awards and recognition: In 2022, Pääbo received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning
Legacy: Pääbo’s work established paleogenetics as a central approach in anthropology and has significantly shaped understanding
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