Mark Pagel facts for kids

Mark Pagel is a famous scientist who studies how living things change over time. He was born in Seattle, Washington, on June 5, 1954. He is a professor and leads a group of scientists at the University of Reading in England. Professor Pagel is well-known for his work comparing different species and cultures. In 1994, he and his wife, Ruth Mace, created a new way to study human cultures using ideas from evolution.

Education and Early Work

Mark Pagel went to the University of Washington. He earned his PhD in Mathematics in 1980. His studies focused on a type of math called "ridge regression."

Later, in the late 1980s, Pagel worked at the University of Oxford. He developed new ways to understand how different species are related to each other. This work was important for studying evolution.

Research and Discoveries

In 1994, Mark Pagel and his wife, Ruth Mace, wrote an important paper. Ruth Mace is an anthropologist, a scientist who studies human cultures. Their paper was called "The Comparative Method in Anthropology."

This paper introduced a new way to study human cultures. They used "evolutionary trees," also called phylogenies. These trees help show how different cultures are related, much like how family trees show how people are related. This new method helped scientists understand human behavior better.

Pagel is also very interested in how languages change and develop over time. He explores how languages evolve, just like living things do.

Books and Lectures

Mark Pagel was the main editor for the Encyclopedia of Evolution, which came out in 2002. He also wrote a book called Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation. This book was chosen as one of the best science books of 2012 by The Guardian newspaper.

In 2019, he gave a series of special talks called the Gifford Lectures. These talks were about his book and how humans developed their social minds. He explained why humans have spread all over the world.

Family Life

Mark Pagel is married to Ruth Mace. She is also a professor and studies how humans have evolved. They have two sons together. Their first son was born in the same year that their important paper, "The Comparative Method in Anthropology," was published.

Awards and Recognition

In 2011, Mark Pagel was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. It means he is recognized for his important contributions to science.

He was honored for showing how scientists can use "phylogenetic trees" (evolutionary trees) and information about species to understand the past. His work helps explain how life and cultures have changed over time. He also created new ways to use statistics to solve problems in evolution. His ideas have changed how many scientists study evolution and human culture.

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