Spencer Wells

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Spencer Wells (born April 6, 1969 in Georgia, USA) is a geneticist and anthropologist, and an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He leads The Genographic Project.

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[edit] Education

Wells grew up in Lubbock, Texas and started college at age 16.

[edit] Work

Wells did his Ph.D. work under Richard Lewontin, and later did postdoctoral research with Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Sir Walter Bodmer. His work, which has helped to establish the critical role played by Central Asia in the peopling of the world, has been published in journals such as Science, American Journal of Human Genetics, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

He wrote the acclaimed book The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (2002), which explains how genetic data has been used to trace human migrations over the past 50,000 years, when modern humans first migrated outside of Africa. According to Wells, one group took a southern route and populated southern India and southeast Asia, then Australia. The other group, accounting for 90% of the world's non-African populace (some 5 billion people as of late 2006), took a northern route, eventually populating most of Eurasia (largely displacing the aboriginals in southern India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia in the process), North Africa and the Americas. Wells also wrote and presented the PBS/National Geographic documentary of the same name.

Since 2005, Wells has headed The Genographic Project, undertaken by the National Geographic Society, IBM and The Waitt Family Foundation, which will add to our knowledge of human history by analyzing DNA samples from around the world, thereby creating a picture of how our ancestors populated the planet.

[edit] Personal

Wells lives in Washington, DC with his wife, documentary filmmaker Pamela Caragol Wells. He has two daughters from his previous marriage.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Books

  • The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, 2002 (Penguin, UK; Random House, USA)
  • Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project, 2006 (National Geographic)

[edit] Films

  • 2000 - The Difference (Channel Four, UK)
  • 2002 - The Real King and Queen (Discovery Channel)
  • 2003 - Journey of Man (PBS/National Geographic Channel)
  • 2004 - Quest for the Phoenicians (PBS)
  • 2005 - Search for Adam (National Geographic Channel)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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