- Beginning of his academic life
- The physical anthropology that changed his life
- Importants achievements
- The New World Theory of Migration
- References
Alex Hrdlicka was an anthropologist and physician responsible for proposing the theory of the Eurasian common origin of the human being, the theory of the evolution of man from Neanderthal to Homo sapiens, and the theory of the migration of the natives of America from Asia through the Strait of Bering.
His contributions were very important for the development of studies on the origin of humans and he is considered the scientist who managed to give shape, professional criteria and prestige to the discipline of anthropology among the community of intellectuals.
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Originally from the town of Humpolec, Bohemia, in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hrdlicka completed his formal and academic university education in the United States, where he graduated with honors and recognition.
During his professional practices and his educational specialization, he managed to travel the world conducting numerous studies in excavations, with findings of prehistoric human remains.
It was these experiences that led him to postulate his theories and write his texts and study theses.
Beginning of his academic life
Hrdlicka was born on March 29, 1869 in what is now the Czech Republic. In 1881, his entire family decided to move to New York, United States, where Alex managed to complete his high school studies on the night shift, while working in a cigarette factory.
At 19, he contracted typhoid fever. The doctor who treated his illness, Dr. Rosenbleuth, motivated young Alex to study medicine. It was this same physician who secured Hrdlicka's admission to the Eclectic College of Medicine and took him as his ward and protégé.
Graduated with the highest honors in 1892 from said institute, he managed to enter to practice as a doctor in the lower part of eastern New York. At the same time, he continued his more specialized studies at the Homeopathic College of New York (current Medical College of NY), from 1892 to 1894.
Until then Hrdlicka only saw himself as a medical practitioner in hospitals. It was in 1894 that he was presented with the opportunity to practice in a mental hospital in Middletown, where he had his encounter with anthropometric studies that completely changed his scientific interests.
The physical anthropology that changed his life
Studies on the measurements of human beings and their characteristics, was what led him to undertake the most ambitious projects of the time for a field of science still growing.
Now 26 years old and a respected professional of medicine, he accepts membership as an anthropologist partner of the newly founded New York State Hospitals Pathological Institute, but on the sole condition that he be allowed to travel to study in Europe to become familiar. more with the field.
In 1896 he traveled to Paris for a couple of months to formally study anthropology, physiology and the medical-legal area with recognized professionals. He visited and inspected many anthropological institutes, laboratories, and houses of scientific study in Paris, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and England.
In 1899 he called it the American Museum of Natural History, where the doors were opened to his first expeditions and field studies as an anthropologist. He conducted numerous studies of Native Americans in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
In 1903 he was appointed director of the division of physical anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, a position he held for 40 years.
Importants achievements
From his position at the museum, his efforts led him to promote anthropology as a legitimately recognized discipline in academic and scientific circles. He turned his department into a world-class, renowned scientific research center.
He managed to maintain one of the most select and recognized human osteological collections worldwide. He also achieved many agreements and collaborations with other anthropology institutes in Europe, especially in France, thanks to his previous professional relationships.
His legacy and vision of the future of his scientific branch was materialized in 1918, initiating the launch of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and then in 1930 founding the American Association of Physical Anthropology.
During his professional life he received many recognitions and honors, such as the Huxley medal in 1927. In addition, the Prague Museum of Anthropology has been named after him since 1937 (Hrdlicka Museum of Man).
His respectable status led him to join many important associations in the academic-scientific community, including:
- Member of the American Philosophical Society (1918)
- Member of the National Academy of Science (1921)
- President of the American Anthropological Association (1925-1926)
- President of the Washington Academy of Science (1928-1929)
- President of the American Association of Anthropologists (1930-1932)
The New World Theory of Migration
Alex Hrdlicka postulated one of the most accepted theories of the origin of Native American man and the settlement of the continent. It was presumed that after the last ice age and at the end of the Pleistocene, there was a natural passage between Asia and present-day Alaska, called the Isthmus of Beringia.
This route was used by tribes of paleomongolid hunters in their quest for better lands and conditions, approximately 11,000 years ago. From Alaska to the Yukon Valley, these men populated the entire continent, continuing south.
Studies of various finds of human remains found in Mongolia, Tibet, Siberia, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands, which possessed similar characteristics, supported Hrdlicka's theory.
The undeniable anthroposomatic resemblance of present-day East Asian men and the natives of North, Central, and South America lent another considerable weight to Hrdlicka's proposal.
In this line of studies, he sought to verify that Homo sapiens as it is known, evolved from Neanderthal, calling this theory "The Neardental phase of Man." In his theory he affirmed that humanity could only develop in Eurasia, that is, in the old world.
It was these projects that earned him the Thomas Henry Huxley Award in 1927. Due to World War II, his studies in Europe were halted.
The scientific community claims that if Hrdlicka had had more time, he may have discovered that the migrations from Asia to America actually occurred around 40,000 years ago and not 12-11,000 years ago as he originally proposed.
Alex died in 1943 at the age of 74.
References
- The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (2015). Aleš Hrdlička. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com
- Encyclopedia of World Biography (2004). Aleš Hrdlička. Encyclopedia.com. The Gale Group Inc. Recovered from encyclopedia.com
- Adolph H. Schultz (1944). Biographical Memoir of Aleš Hrdlička - 1869-1943 (Online document). National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. National Academy of Sciences site. Recovered from nasonline.org
- Explore the Caribbean. Population of America. Caribean Sea. Recovered from explorecaribe.com
- Freddy Gómez (2008). Alex Hrdlicka and the Asian Theory. First Settlers of America. Recovered from poblamerica.blogspot.com
- Theories of the American Population (2012). Asian Theory by Álex Hrdlicka. Recovered from tp-americano.blogspot.com