Mark Pagel Explained

Mark Pagel
Birth Name:Mark David Pagel
Birth Date:1954 6, df=yes[1]
Birth Place:Seattle, Washington, US
Alma Mater:University of Washington
Thesis Title:Determinants of the Success and Failure of Ridge Regression
Thesis Url:http://search.proquest.com/docview/303081403
Thesis Year:1980
Known For:Co-developer of the Comparative Method in Anthropology
Awards:FRS (2011)
Spouse:Ruth Mace
Children:2

Mark David Pagel FRS (born 5 June 1954 in Seattle, Washington)[1] is an evolutionary biologist and professor. He heads the Evolutionary Biology Group at the University of Reading.[1] [2] [3] He is known for comparative studies in evolutionary biology. In 1994, with his spouse, anthropologist Ruth Mace, Pagel pioneered the Comparative Method in Anthropology.

Education

Pagel was a student educated at the University of Washington where he was awarded a PhD in Mathematics in 1980 for work on ridge regression.[4]

Research

During the late 1980s, Pagel worked on developing ways to analyse species relatedness, in the zoology department at the University of Oxford. Having met there, in 1994, Pagel and anthropologist Ruth Mace co-authored a paper, "The Comparative Method in Anthropology", that used phylogenetic methods to analyse human cultures, pioneering a new field of science — using evolutionary trees, or phylogenies, in anthropology, to explain human behaviour.[5] Pagel's interests include evolution and the development of languages.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Pagel was the editor-in-chief for the Encyclopedia of Evolution, published in 2002.[12] He authored Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation,[13] [14] which was voted one of best science books of 2012 by The Guardian. In 2019, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on Wired for Culture: The Origins of the Human Social Mind, or Why Humans Occupied the World at the University of Glasgow.[15]

Personal life

Pagel's partner is Ruth Mace, professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at University College London.[1] [16] Together they have two sons, the first of whom was born the same year that Pagel's and Mace's landmark work, "The Comparative Method in Anthropology", was published in Current Anthropology.[11]

Awards and honours

Pagel was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2011. His nomination reads:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PAGEL, Prof. Mark . Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press .
  2. http://www.reading.ac.uk/biologicalsciences/about/staff/m-pagel.aspx Staff Profile: Professor Mark Pagel
  3. http://www.evolution.reading.ac.uk/ Reading Evolutionary Biology Group – Home.
  4. PhD . Mark. Pagel . Determinants of the Success and Failure of Ridge Regression . University of Washington . 2014 . Mark Pagel. .
  5. 10.1038/510458a. 24965634. 2014Natur.510..458S. Nature. 160. 510. 458–460. 26 June 2014. Smith . Kerri. Love in the lab: Close collaborators. free.
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19368988 English language 'originated in Turkey'
  7. 10.1038/44766. 10553904. 1999Natur.401..877P. 1999. Pagel . M. . Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution. Nature. 401. 6756. 877–84. 2027.42/148253. 205034365. free.
  8. 10.1086/343873. 18707460. Phylogenetic Analysis and Comparative Data: A Test and Review of Evidence. The American Naturalist. 160. 6. 712–26. 2002. Freckleton . R. P. . Harvey . P. H. . Pagel . M.. 19796539.
  9. 10.1111/j.1463-6409.1997.tb00423.x. Inferring evolutionary processes from phylogenies. Zoologica Scripta. 26. 4. 331–348. 1997. Pagel . M. . 53486234.
  10. 10.1080/10635150490522232. 15545248. Bayesian Estimation of Ancestral Character States on Phylogenies. Systematic Biology. 53. 5. 673–84. 2004. Pagel . M. . Meade . A. . Barker . D. . free.
  11. 10.1086/204317. The Comparative Method in Anthropology. Current Anthropology. 35. 5. 549. 1994. Mace . Ruth . Pagel . Mark. 146297584.
  12. Book: Encyclopedia of Evolution. 2013-03-24. 2 volume set. 2002. OUP. USA. 978-0-19-512200-8.
  13. Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation
  14. Web site: Wired for Culture by Mark Pagel – review . Julian Baggini . . 23 February 2012 . 2012-07-24.
  15. Web site: The Glasgow Gifford Lectures . gla.ac.uk . University of Glasgow.
  16. 10.1038/510458a. Love in the lab: Close collaborators. Nature. 510. 7506. 458–460. 2014. Smith . K.. 24965634. 2014Natur.510..458S. free.