#robert broom

[themuseumofwitchcraftandpaganism]

Psychic Paleontology -- Robert Broom

Robert Broom (1866--1951) was a Scottish paleontologist who specialized in ancient mammals. He lived in South Africa for most of his career and did many field expeditions. He believed that humans were the pinnacle of evolution and that there was a spiritual power dictating the course of evolution. In 1933, he wrote, "...the evolution of man must have been deliberately planned by some spiritual power.”

He also believed that spirits could guide him to where he should excavate to find fossils. In 1947, during one of his digs, he found an australopithecines skull, the earliest known human ancestor. He nicknamed it Mrs. Ples and when asked how he knew where to dig to find it, he said that spirits led him to it. There are no accounts of him engaging with mediums; his interactions with spirits were done through his own intuition.

Robert Broom and Mrs. Ples

Further reading:

Robert Broom - Wikipedia

Design and Dissent: Religion, Authority, and the Scientific Spirit of Robert Broom on JSTOR

(PDF) Robert Broom's theory of evolution

Mrs. Ples - Wikipedia

[nitr09-productions]

Question for people who know about these things -

Was James Kitching actually out discovering fossils for Robert Broom when he was seven years old, or is that just an apocryphal tale? I can't seem to find academic confirmation that this happened, only claims on South African tourist websites.

[lindahall]

Robert Broom – Scientist of the Day

Robert Broom, a Scottish anthropologist who spent most of his life in South Africa, was born Nov. 30, 1866.

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[shadowofveils]

[Raymond] Dart's sole supporter of note was Robert Broom, a Scottish-born physician and paleontologist of considerable intellect and cherishably eccentric nature. It was Broom's habit, for instance, to do his fieldwork naked when the weather was warm, which was often. He was also known for conducting dubious anatomical experiments on his poorer and more tractable patients. When the patients died, which was also often, he would sometimes bury their bodies in his back garden to dig up for study later.

Bill Bryson