Our GACT speaker Jun.-Prof. Dr. Cosimo Posth receives an award from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities for combining various methods to decode the genetic diversity of the past.
Palaeogeneticist Cosimo Posth has been awarded the Manfred Fuchs Prize of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The academy is honoring the assistant professor’s work on human palaeogenomics at the interface of archaeology, anthropology, linguistics and population genetics. The research prize was donated by the entrepreneur Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred Fuchs to encourage young researchers in Baden-Württemberg and to ensure that outstanding academic achievements receive the recognition they deserve. It is endowed with 10,000 euros.
In its statement, the Academy said Cosimo Posth combined various methods to decode the genetic diversity of the past. He uses the latest molecular biology and population genetics techniques to extract and analyze genomic information from ancient DNA. „This enables him to gain insights into human history and evolution over the last ten to several hundred thousand years. With his research activities, Posth has always tried to build bridges between sometimes very different scientific fields to obtain a more comprehensive picture of human history. The inclusion and consideration of a wide variety of evidence from the sciences and humanities has enabled him to shed new light on our history.“
Read the full post at attempto online.