Henry Harpending
American anthropologist and population geneticist (1944–2016), distinguished professor at the University of Utah. Long career in human population genetics, including foundational work on the molecular-clock dating of human population expansions and on hunter-gatherer demography. Co-author with Greg Cochran of The 10,000 Year Explosion (2009), the principal book-length statement of the accelerated-recent-human-evolution framework. With Cochran, also co-author of the influential (and controversial) “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence” (Journal of Biosocial Science, 2006), arguing for a population-genetic account of Ashkenazi cognitive trait distributions.
Associated positions
Section titled “Associated positions”- Genetic selection — co-architect of the biological version with Cochran.
Key works
Section titled “Key works”- With Greg Cochran: The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution (2009).
- With Greg Cochran and Jason Hardy: “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence” (Journal of Biosocial Science, 2006).
- Numerous papers in human population genetics, including foundational work on mitochondrial-DNA-based reconstruction of Pleistocene human population history.