Editing Davidson Black (section)

==Career==
In 1909, Black became an anatomy instructor. He spent half a year in 1914 working under [[neuroanatomist]] [[Grafton Elliot Smith]], in [[Manchester]], [[England]]. Smith was studying [[Piltdown Man]] during this time. This began an interest for Black in [[human evolution]].<ref>{{Cite news|pmid = 793707|last=Swinton|first=W E|publication-date=Dec 18, 1976|title= Physician contributions to nonmedical science: Davidson Black, our Peking man.|volume=115|issue=12|periodical=Canadian Medical Association Journal|pages=1251–3|pmc=1878980}}</ref>

In 1917 he joined the [[Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps]], where he treated injured returning Canadian soldiers.

In 1919, after his discharge from the Canadian Army Medical Corps, he went to China to work at [[Peking Union Medical College]]. Starting as Professor of [[Neurology]] and [[Embryology]], he would be promoted to head of the anatomy department in 1924. He planned to search for human fossils in 1926, though the College encouraged him to concentrate on teaching. During this period [[Johan Gunnar Andersson]], who had done excavations near Dragon Bone Hill ([[Zhoukoudian]]) in 1921, learned in Sweden of Black's fossils examination. He gave Black two human-similar molars to examine. The following year, with a grant from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], Black began his search around Zhoukoudian. During this time, though military unrest involving the [[National Revolutionary Army]] caused many western Scientists to leave China, Davidson Black and his family stayed.

Black then launched a large scale investigation at the site. He was appointed primary coordinator. As such, he appointed both Western and Chinese scientists. In summer 1926, two molars were discovered by [[Otto Zdansky]], who headed the excavations and who described them in 1927 (''Bulletin of the Geolocical Survey, China'') as fossils of genus ''Homo''. Black thought they belonged to a new human species and named them ''Sinanthropus pekinensis''. He carried this tooth in a small copper case lined with velvet attached to his belt.<ref name="ReferenceA">Eyewitness account by his daughter Nevitt</ref>

Later, he presented the tooth to the Rockefeller Foundation, which wanted more specimens before further grants would be given.

During November 1928, a lower jaw and several teeth and skull fragments were discovered. His find expanded the knowledge of human evolution.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Swinton|first=W. E.|year=1976|title=Physician contributions to nonmedical science: Davidson Black, our Peking man|journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal|volume=115|issue=12|page=1253|pmid=793707|pmc=1878980 }}</ref>  Black presented this to the foundation, which granted him $80,000 {{USDCY|80000|1928}}. This grant continued the investigation, and, with it, Black established the [[Cenozoic Research Laboratory]] .

Later, another excavator found a skull. More specimens were found. Black would frequently examine these late into the night.

Most of the original bones were lost in the process of shipping them out of China for safe-keeping during the beginning of [[World War II]]. The Japanese gained control of the Peking Union Medical Center during the war, where the laboratory containing all the fossils was ransacked and all the remaining specimens were confiscated.  To this day, the fossils have not been found and no one is sure if they were stolen or legitimately lost.  Only the plaster imprints remained, one at the 
PUMC, one at the [[Smithsonian]] in Washington, and one in London.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

He was a member of the [[American Association for Anatomy]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The American Association of Anatomists, 1888-1987: essays on the history of anatomy in America and a report on the membership: past and present |date=1987 |publisher=Williams & Wilkins |isbn=978-0-683-06800-9 |editor-last=Pauly |editor-first=John Edward |location=Baltimore |editor-last2=Basmajian |editor-first2=John V. |editor-last3=Christensen |editor-first3=A. Kent |editor-last4=Jollie |editor-first4=William P. |editor-last5=Kelly |editor-first5=Douglas E.}}</ref>