Here, he made a series of remarkable discoveries that shed light on early hominin behaviour and evolutionary development, including the oldest evidence for the controlled use of fire by hominins, dating to about one million years ago. Dr Brain's most significant achievement was his ground-breaking work at the renowned Swartkrans Cave in South Africa. His insatiable curiosity led him on countless expeditions to remote corners of the globe, where he carefully unearthed fossils and meticulously studied archaeological sites. In 1980 he obtained his doctorate titled “Studies in African Cave taphonomy” from Wits.ĭr Brain dedicated his life to unravelling the mysteries of our shared human story. Three years later, he was promoted to director, a position he held 23 years until his retirement in 1991. In 1965, he returned to the Transvaal Museum and took on the role of curator in the Palaeontology Department. Between 19, he served as the keeper of zoology and deputy director at the Queen Victoria Museum in Harare. Demonstrating his versatile scientific approach, Dr Brain assumed the role of curator in the Department of Lower Vertebrates in 1957, where he published several papers focusing on frogs, snakes, and lizards. His systematic investigation revealed that each deposit had a distinct age and represented a unique climatic condition. During this time, he conducted research on the stratigraphy of fossil hominid-bearing cave deposits in South Africa. In 1954, he began his career at the Transvaal Museum (now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History) in Pretoria. He obtained his bachelor of science degree and doctorate in zoology and geology from the University of Cape Town. He matriculated from Pretoria Boys’ High School in 1947. Pioneer in the field of palaeontology Dr Charles Kimberlin "Bob" Brain (PhD 1980, DSc honoris causa 1999), died on 6 June 2023.ĭr Brain was born on in Salisbury (now Harare), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In Memoriam 2023 Charles Kimberlin Brain (1931-2023)
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