Meave G. Leakey PhD DSc (hon) is a renowned paleontologist who studies the origin of mankind in West Africa. She was born Meave Epps, 28 July 1942 in London, and was married to Richard Leakey, the son of Louis and Mary Leakey. She is a research professor at Stony Brook University.
They have two children, Louise (born 1972) and Samira (born 1974). Her daughter Louise Leakey is also a paleontologist studying human origins.
Dr. Leakey's research team at Lake Turkana, Kenya made a discovery in 1999 that changed our understanding of early human ancestry. They found a 3.5 million-year-old skull and partial jaw thought to belong to a new branch of our early human family. She named the find Kenyanthropus platyops, or flat-faced man of Kenya.