Meave Leakey Interview (page: 6 / 7) Pioneering Paleoanthropologist	Print Interview

Was there any teacher who believed in you and encouraged you and stands out in your memory?

Meave Leakey: At university definitely, because I was the only student doing an honors degree who was doing marine zoology. So there were people there who really encouraged me. I was very fortunate, because I was able to join the M.Sc. (Master of Science) course and attend all their lectures, which was just great.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I was with the Master's students, although I was just doing a regular honors degree. So I was getting more information than I would have got if I had been with another club. But in the zoology, we had an excellent functional zoologist who did the evolution course. Looking back on it that was actually -- I was very focused on the marine, but that evolution course was really one I enjoyed enormously. He was an excellent lecturer, and he was very, very succinct in what he said, so it was always very clear and very easy to understand, and always made so much sense. I really enjoyed his course a lot and he was very enthusiastic and very encouraging.

What was his name?

Meave Leakey: Lew Alexander. He has gone on to do a lot of functional work.

What would you have done had you become a marine zoologist? You've described the setting at your university as being particularly attractive to somebody in that field.

Meave Leakey: I don't know. I mean, in those days I was already concerned about climates. That was something that always interested me and there was a lot in the oceans that you could find out about climate. I think that connection was of interest. But I also liked marine zoology and the animals. The thing that always has intrigued me is going deep, the sort of work that Sylvia Earle does. I always think that if I hadn't done what I've done, to do what she did would have been fantastic.

Do you scuba dive?

Meave Leakey: Yes, but I'm not very good.

What about books when you were a kid? Were there books that were particularly important to you as a child?

Meave Leakey: I don't recall any more than any others. I think I sort of read what everybody else was reading. I just read everything I could get my hands on.

When you decided to go to school for marine zoology, what kind of reaction did you get from your parents? Were they supportive?

Meave Leakey: They were very supportive. There was no problem there at all. All parents want their children to do what they enjoy doing and they want them to do something that they can really get some professional satisfaction out of doing. I'm incredibly lucky to have done what I've done. I've really enjoyed every minute of it.

Did your mother work?

Meave Leakey: She used to work at home mostly, doing insurance cases for my father, because there was a lot of sort of home secretarial work that needed doing. Writing out reports and things. So she didn't go out to work.

Did she live to see some of your own achievement?

Meave Leakey: No, unfortunately, she didn't. She died while I was first in Kenya, before I had finished my Ph.D., a long time ago.

And your dad?

Meave Leakey: He died quite recently. So yes, he came out very often to see us and see what we were doing and he took a great interest in it.

I can imagine he must have been fairly thrilled to see that.

Meave Leakey: Yes. That's right. Yes, he was. He was always interested.

Do you ever wonder what would have happened if your friend hadn't seen that ad in the newspaper?

Meave Leakey: Had he not seen that advert, that's right, I would have done something else. Absolutely.

Obviously you were drawn to the idea of it. Were you in London at this time?

Meave Leakey: No, I was living in Kent. I was still at university, because that was before I finished my course. You know, you are always applying for jobs before you actually finish the course and before you take your exams, because you want to know. In those days The Times was one of the main papers. There were many less papers then. They had a page full of adverts on the front and then it switched to the back or the other way around, and they were strange adverts some of them. They were just advertising all sorts of things. Now the pages of adverts in the newspaper are so many, but then it was just one page for private adverts.

Didn't it take a lot of courage to just go off and move to Africa suddenly?

Meave Leakey: I think at that age one gets very excited. People didn't travel so much in those days, and the thought of going to Africa was really exciting. I suppose in a way it takes courage, because you're leaving everything behind that's familiar, but at the same time one is really excited by having the chance to do that.

How old were you when you went for the first time?

Meave Leakey: I was born in 1942 and this was in 1965. So 23, 22.

It's amazing how one little twist of fate can change your life.

Meave Leakey: It's extraordinary. You can grow up thinking you're going to do one thing, and then you end up doing something that you never even thought about really or never dreamt you would see. It's extraordinary.

Would you say you have to leave yourself open to other possibilities?

Meave Leakey: Absolutely, yes. If you're determined to do something, that's also good. But it gets to a point where there's no point trying to hope that you can do something that you are obviously not destined to do.

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