Editing Robert Broom

{{short description|South African doctor and palaeontologist (1866–1951)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use South African English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Robert Broom
| image             = Robert Broom00.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1866|11|30|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Paisley, Renfrewshire]], Scotland
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1951|4|6|1866|11|30|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Pretoria]], South Africa
| awards            = [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<br />[[Royal Medal]] {{small|(1928)}}<br />[[Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal]] {{small|(1946)}}<br />[[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1949)}}
| signature         = Robert Broom (signature).png
| signature_alt     = Robert Broom
| education         = [[University of Glasgow]]
| workplaces        = [[University of Stellenbosch]], [[South African Museum]], Cape Town
| nationality       = British, South African
| father            = John Broom
| mother            = Agnes Hunter Shearer
| spouse            = Mary Baird Baillie
| known_for         = Identification of hominim fossils, ''The mammal-like reptiles of South Africa and the origin of mammals'', ''The coming of man: was it accident or design?'' and other books
| patrons           = [[Jan Smuts]]
| author_abbrev_zoo = '''Broom'''
}}

'''Robert Broom''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = D. M. S. | author-link = D. M. S. Watson| title = Robert Broom. 1866–1951 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1952.0004 | journal = [[Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 8 | issue = 21 | pages = 36–70 | year = 1952 | jstor = 768799| doi-access = free }}</ref> [[FRSE]] (30 November 1866{{Snd}} 6 April 1951) was a British- [[South Africa]]n medical doctor and [[palaeontologist]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Broom {{!}} South African paleontologist |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Broom |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=25 June 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his [[DSc]] in 1905 from the [[University of Glasgow]].

From 1903 to 1910, he was professor of zoology and geology at [[Stellenbosch University|Victoria College]], [[Stellenbosch, Western Cape|Stellenbosch]], South Africa, and subsequently he became keeper of [[vertebrate palaeontology]] at the [[South African Museum]], [[Cape Town]].<ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Richmond | first1 = J. 
| title = Design and dissent: Religion, authority, and the scientific spirit of Robert Broom 
| journal = Isis; an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences 
| volume = 100 
| issue = 3 
| pages = 485–504 
| year = 2009 
| pmid = 19960839
 | doi=10.1086/644626
| s2cid = 21204241 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Clark | first1 = W. E. 
| title = Dr. Robert Broom, F.R.S 
| journal = Nature 
| volume = 167 
| issue = 4254 
| pages = 752 
| year = 1951 
| pmid = 14833380
 | doi=10.1038/167752a0
| bibcode = 1951Natur.167Q.752L 
| doi-access = free 
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| title = ROBERT Broom 
| journal = Lancet 
| volume = 1 
| issue = 6660 
| pages = 915–916 
| year = 1951 
| pmid = 14825857
| doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(51)91306-2
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| title = ROBERT Broom, M.D., F.R.S 
| journal = British Medical Journal 
| volume = 1 
| issue = 4711 
| pages = 889 
| year = 1951 
| pmid = 14821559 
| pmc = 2069052
}}</ref>

==Life==

Broom was born at 66 Back Sneddon Street in [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]], [[Renfrewshire (historic)|Renfrewshire]], Scotland, the son of John Broom, a designer of calico prints and [[Paisley design|Paisley shawls]], and Agnes Hunter Shearer.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002|isbn= 0-902-198-84-X |date=July 2006|publisher=RSE Scotland Foundation }}</ref>

In 1893, he married Mary Baird Baillie, his childhood sweetheart.<ref name="Findlay1972">{{cite book|last=Findlay|first=George |title=Dr. Robert Broom, F.R.S.; palaeontologist and physician, 1866-1951: a biography, appreciation and bibliography|url=https://archive.org/details/drrobertbroomfrs0000find|url-access=registration|year=1972|publisher=A. A. Balkema}}</ref>

In his medical studies at the University of Glasgow Broom specialised in obstetrics.<ref name="SAHO" /> After graduating in 1895 he travelled to Australia, supporting himself by practising medicine. He settled in South Africa in 1897,<ref name="SAHO">{{cite web|title=Robert Broom|url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/robert-broom|website=South African History Online|access-date=23 March 2017|date=17 February 2011}}</ref> just prior to the [[South African War]]. From 1903 to 1910, he was professor of Zoology and Geology at Victoria College, Stellenbosch (later [[Stellenbosch University]]), but was forced out of this position for promoting belief in evolution.<ref name="SAHO" /> He established a medical practice in the [[Karoo]] region of South Africa, an area rich in [[therapsid]] fossils. Based on his continuing studies of these fossils and mammalian anatomy he was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1920. Following the discovery of the [[Taung child]] he became interested in the search for human ancestors and commenced work on much more recent fossils from the dolomite caves north-west of Johannesburg, particularly [[Sterkfontein]] Cave (now part of the [[Cradle of Humankind]] World Heritage Site). As well as describing many mammalian fossils from these caves he identified several [[hominin]] fossils, the most complete of which was an [[australopithecine]] skull, nicknamed [[Mrs Ples]], and a partial skeleton that indicated that australopithecines walked upright.<ref name="SAHO" />

Broom died in [[Pretoria]], South Africa in 1951.

== Contributions ==
Broom was first known for his study of [[therapsid]]s. After [[Raymond Dart]]'s discovery of the [[Taung Child]], an infant australopithecine, Broom's interest in palaeoanthropology was heightened. Broom's career seemed over and he was sinking into poverty, when Dart wrote to [[Jan Smuts]] about the situation. Smuts, exerting pressure on the South African government, managed to obtain a position for Broom in 1934 with the staff of the [[Transvaal Museum]] in [[Pretoria]] as an Assistant in [[Palaeontology]].

Broom has been described as "one of the great Karoo (and, in particular, therapsid) palaeontologists", having managed to describe 369 therapsid holotypes in his lifetime, which he ascribed to 168 new genera. Broom has a reputation as a "[[Lumpers and splitters|splitter]]" that has resulted in only around 57% of his holotypes still being considered valid as of 2003.<ref>Wyllie, A. (2003). “[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39674425.pdf A review of Robert Broom’s therapsid holotypes: have they survived the test of time?]” ''Palaeontologia Africana'' 39: 1-19.</ref>

In the following years, he and John T. Robinson made a series of spectacular finds, including fragments from six hominins in [[Sterkfontein]], which they named ''Plesianthropus transvaalensis'', popularly called [[Mrs. Ples]], but which was later classified as an adult ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'', as well as more discoveries at sites in [[Kromdraai]] and [[Swartkrans]]. In 1937, Broom made his [[SK 48|most famous discovery]], by defining the robust hominin genus ''[[Paranthropus]]'' with his discovery of ''[[Paranthropus robustus]]''.<ref name="JohansonEdey1990">{{cite book|last1=Johanson|first1=Donald |last2=Edey|first2=Maitland |title=Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind|url=https://archive.org/details/lucybeginningsof0000joha|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/lucybeginningsof0000joha/page/57 57]|year=1990|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-72499-3}}</ref> These discoveries helped support Dart's claims for the Taung species.

For his volume, ''The South Africa Fossil Ape-Men, The Australopithecinae'', in which he proposed the Australopithecinae subfamily, Broom was awarded the [[Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal]] from the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] in 1946.<ref name=Elliot>{{cite web|title=Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=15 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727135304/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>

The remainder of Broom's career was devoted to the exploration of these sites and the interpretation of the many early hominin remains discovered there. He continued to write to the last. Shortly before his death he finished a monograph on the Australopithecines and remarked to his nephew:<br />
::"Now that's finished ... and so am I."<ref name="Morell2011">{{cite book|last=Morell|first=Virginia|title=Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKatWz1z3r8C&pg=PA188|year=2011|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4391-4387-2|page=188}}</ref>

== Spiritual evolution ==

Broom was a [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] and was deeply interested in the [[paranormal]] and [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]]; he was a critic of [[Darwinism]] and [[materialism]]. Broom was a believer in [[spiritual evolution]]. In his book ''The Coming of Man: Was it Accident or Design?'' (1933) he claimed that "spiritual agencies" had guided [[evolution]] as animals and plants were too complex to have arisen by chance. According to Broom, there were at least two different kinds of spiritual forces, and psychics are capable of seeing them.<ref name="Bowler2001">{{cite book|title=Reconciling science and religion: the debate in the early-twentieth-century Britain|author-link=Peter J. Bowler|first=Peter J.|last= Bowler|date= 2001| pages= 133–134}}</ref> Broom claimed there was a plan and purpose in evolution and that the origin of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' is the ultimate purpose behind evolution. According to Broom "Much of evolution looks as if it had been planned to result in man, and in other animals and plants to make the world a suitable place for him to dwell in."<ref name="Lewin1997">{{cite book|title=Bones of contention: controversies in the search for human origins|author-link=Roger Lewin|first=Roger |last=Lewin|date= 1997|page= 311|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226476510}}</ref>

After discovering the skull of Mrs. Ples, Broom was asked if he excavated at random, Broom replied that spirits had told him where to find his discoveries.<ref name="Dreyer2006">{{cite book|title=A century of Sundays: 100 years of breaking news in the Sunday times, 1906–2006|first= Nadine|last= Dreyer|date= 2006|page= 119}}</ref>

== Research on the Khoisan ==
Broom had a noted interest in the [[Khoisan]] peoples, which included collecting their remains, including those of the recently deceased, as well as by digging up old graves.<ref name=":0">Štrkalj, G. (2000). “[https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00411752_49 Inventing Races: Robert Broom’s Research on the Khoisan]“. ''Annals of the Transvaal Museum'' 37: 113-24.</ref> Broom first began collecting modern human remains in 1897, shortly after he moved to South Africa. In that year he collected the remains of three elderly "[[Hottentot (racial term)|Hottentot]]" people that had died around [[Port Nolloth]] following a drought in the region. Broom stated that he "cut their heads off and boiled them in paraffin tins on the kitchen stove". Their skulls were later sent to the medical school of the [[University of Edinburgh]],<ref name=":1">Morris, A.G. (1987). “[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3887769 The Reflection of the Collector: San and Khoi Skeletons in Museum Collections]“. ''The South African Archaeological Bulletin'' 42(145): 12-22.</ref> alongside a 7 month old foetus, from which Broom had removed the brain which he preserved separately.<ref name=":0" /> Broom also obtained remains of deceased prisoners, stating: "If a prisoner dies and you want his skeleton, probably two or three regulations stand in the way, but the enthusiast does not worry about such regulations." Broom said that he had buried several corpses in his garden allowing them to decay before later retrieving their bones. These include the remains of two men who were imprisoned in Douglas jail: Andreas Links, an 18 year old [[!Ora people|!Ora]] man, (catalogued as MMK 264), as well an unnamed 18 year old "bushman" from Langeberg (catalogued as MMK 283), who was photographed while alive at the request of Broom, despite this being against policy. The skeletons of both men were added to the collections of the [[McGregor Museum]] in 1921.<ref name=":1" />

Broom described the Khoisan peoples as a "[[Social degeneration|degenerate]]" and "degraded race", speculating in 1907 that they descended from "the race which built the Pyramids" and "[[Mongoloid]]s", but had "degenerated" due to South Africa's hot climate. In his later works he divided the Khoisan peoples into three [[Race (human categorization)|races]], the Bushmen, Hottentot and Korana, based on supposed [[Typology (anthropology)|typological]] differences,<ref name=":0" /> with the [[type specimen]] of the Korana race being the skeleton of Links.<ref name=":1" /> Other contemporary anthropologists questioned this classification scheme, especially the Korana race. Broom later said that he had "invented the Korana". All such typological racial classification schemes are discredited today, due to being based on vague criteria, resulting in the rigid categorization ultimately being arbitrary. Anatomist Goran Štrkalj wrote that: "It is obvious that Broom's anthropological work was ... influenced by the racist stereotypes and prejudices of the day".<ref name=":0" />

== Publications ==
[[File:Transvaal Museum-025.jpg|thumb|Bust of Robert Broom and Mrs. Ples]]
[[File:Sterkfontein Caves 51.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque at the Sterkfontein caves]]
Among hundreds of articles contributed by him to scientific journals, the most important include:
*"Fossil Reptiles of South Africa" in ''Science in South Africa'' (1905)
*"Reptiles of Karroo Formation" in ''Geology of Cape Colony'' (1909)
*"Development and Morphology of the Marsupial Shoulder Girdle" in ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'' (1899)
*"Comparison of Permian Reptiles of North America with Those of South Africa" in ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' (1910)
*"Structure of Skull in Cynodont Reptiles" in ''Proceedings of the Zoölogical Society'' (1911).
*''The South Africa Fossil Ape-Men, The Australopithecinae'' (1946).

'''Books'''

* ''The origin of the human skeleton: an introduction to human osteology'' (1930)
* ''The mammal-like reptiles of South Africa and the origin of mammals'' (1932)
* ''The coming of man: was it accident or design?'' (1933)
* ''The South African fossil ape-man: the Australopithecinae'' (1946)
* ''Sterkfontein ape-man Plesianthropus'' (1949)
* ''Finding the missing link'' (1950)

==Legacy==
Robert Broom is commemorated in the [[Binomial nomenclature|scientific name]] of a species of Australian [[Scolecophidia|blind snake]], ''[[Anilios broomi]]'',<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Broom", p. 40).</ref> the [[Triassic]] [[Archosauromorpha|archosauromorph]] reptile ''[[Prolacerta|Prolacerta broomi]]'', the [[Rhinesuchidae|rhinesuchid]] amphibian ''[[Broomistega]]'', the [[Permian]] [[dicynodont]] ''[[Robertia|Robertia broomiana]]'' and [[millerettid]] ''[[Broomia]]'' and the [[aloe]] plant species ''[[Aloe broomii]]''.

== See also ==
{{commons category|Robert Broom}}
* [[List of fossil sites]] ''(with link directory)''
* [[List of hominina fossils]] ''(with images)''
* [[Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research]]
* [[John Talbot Robinson]], co-discoverer of Mrs Ples.
*[[PanAfrican Archaeological Association]]

== Notes and references ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/rbroom.html Biographies: Robert Broom], [[TalkOrigins Archive]]
*[http://www.mprinstitute.org/vaclav/Broomevo.htm Robert Broom: A Short Bibliography of his Evolutionary Works, MPRInstitute.org site.]
*[http://www.mprinstitute.org/vaclav/Broom.htm British metaphysics as reflected in Robert Broom's evolutionary theory, translation of an article by Václav Petr published in ''Bulletin of the Czech Geological Survey'', 75(1): 73–85. Praha 2000. Text and photos displayed entire at the MPRInstitute.org site.]

{{Cradle of Humankind}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broom, Robert}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century British zoologists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Non-Darwinian evolution]]
[[Category:People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School]]
[[Category:Paleoanthropologists]]
[[Category:People from Renfrewshire]]
[[Category:Physical anthropologists]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Scottish palaeontologists]]
[[Category:Scottish scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Scottish spiritualists]]
[[Category:South African obstetricians]]
[[Category:South African paleontologists]]
[[Category:South African writers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Stellenbosch University]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Robert Broom]]
[[Category:Theistic evolutionists]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Paisley, Renfrewshire]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science]]