Spencer Wells

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Thomas Spencer Wells (1818 – 1897), English surgeon.

Spencer Wells
Spencer Wells
Born
Rush Spencer Wells IV

(1969-04-06) April 6, 1969 (age 55)
Marietta, Georgia, USA
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Harvard University
AwardsKistler Prize (2007)
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics (biologist)

Spencer Wells

The Genographic Project from 2005 to 2015, as an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, and is the founder and executive director of personal genomics nonprofit
The Insitome Institute.

Biography

Youth and education

Wells was born in

Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University in 1994. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University between 1994 and 1998, and a research fellow at the University of Oxford
from 1999 to 2000.

Career

Spencer Wells at the TED Global conference in Arusha, Tanzania in 2007

Wells did his Ph.D. work under

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
.

Wells is renowned[

Genographic scientists on the first modern expedition to the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad, and in 2006 he led a team to the Wakhan Corridor
on the Tajik-Afghan border. His work has taken him to more than 100 countries.

He wrote the book

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (2002),[3] which explains how genetic data has been used to trace human migrations over the past 50,000 years, when modern humans first migrated outside of Africa. According to Wells, one group took a southern route and populated southern India and southeast Asia, then Australia. The other group, accounting for 90% of the world's non-African population (some 5.4 billion people as of 2014), took a northern route, eventually peopling most of Eurasia (largely displacing the aboriginals in southern India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia in the process), North Africa and the Americas. Wells also wrote and presented the 2003 PBS/National Geographic documentary of the same name. Wells has contributed to efforts to determine the date of Y-chromosomal Adam.[4]

From 2005-2015, Wells led

the Genographic Project, undertaken by the National Geographic Society, IBM, and the Waitt Foundation,[5] which aimed to create a picture of how our ancestors populated the planet by analyzing DNA samples from around the world.[6] The project is credited with creating the personal genomics
industry.

He has presented the results of his work around the world, including at the

University of Texas College of Natural Sciences
commencement exercises on May 21, 2011.

Wells was one of the keynote speakers at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree that was co-sponsored by the International Society of Genetic Genealogy on June 3, 2013. The focus was on Family History and DNA: Genetic Genealogy in 2013, where he was quoted as saying:

Since 2005, the Genographic Project has used the latest genetic technology to expand our knowledge of the human story, and its pioneering use of DNA testing to engage and involve the public in the research effort has helped to create a new breed of "citizen scientist." Geno 2.0 expands the scope for citizen science, harnessing the power of the crowd to discover new details of human population history.[8]

Opposition to Israeli policies and allegations of anti-Semitism

In July 2020, Wells attracted criticism[9] for tweeting that Israel should be bombed “until the sand turns to glass”.[10] Wells was involved in a heated discussion on Twitter, set against a planned Israeli annexation of additional territory in the West Bank.[11][12] Some of his comments attracted criticism[13] from the online edition of Algemeiner Journal.[14]

The University of Texas at Austin subsequently distanced itself from Wells, stating, "Spencer Wells is no longer a faculty or advisory council member at UT. He previously had a courtesy, unpaid appointment as a part-time adjunct that did not involve teaching. That ended in May and was not renewed. We do not have any association with the views held by Mr. Wells."[14][15]

National Geographic subsequently removed all of Wells' content from its site, citing a violation of its journalistic ethics policy.[16]

Personal life

Wells is married to Holly Morse,[17] and the two have lived in Lombok, Indonesia since 2020. He was previously married to Trendell Thompson (1998-2005), with whom he has two children, Sasha Thompson-Wells and Margot Thompson-Wells; and Pamela Caragol Wells (2005-2015).

Awards and honors

Books

  • The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
    , 2002 (Penguin, UK; Princeton University Press and Random House, US; Fischer Verlag, Germany; Longanesi, Italy; Oceano, Spain/Latin America; Ucila International, Slovenia; Dokoran, Czech Republic; Akkord, Hungary; Oriental Press, China; Basilico, Japan; ScienceBooks, Korea; Yurt, Turkey; CD Press, Romania; Alpina, Russia)
  • Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project, 2006 (National Geographic)
  • Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization, 2010 (Random House, US; Penguin, UK; Contact, Netherlands; Codice, Italy; Eksmo, Russia; Nika Center, Ukraine; Commonwealth, Taiwan; Eulyoo, Korea; Kagaku-Dojin, Japan; Shanghai BBT, China)

Films

  • 2000 – The Difference (Channel Four, UK)
  • 2002 – The Real King and Queen (Discovery Channel)
  • 2003 – Journey of Man (PBS/National Geographic Channel) – CINE Golden Eagle award
  • 2004 – Quest for the Phoenicians (PBS)
  • 2005 – Search for Adam (National Geographic Channel)
  • 2007 – China's Secret Mummies (National Geographic Channel) – nominated for Outstanding Historical Programming
    Emmy
  • 2009 – The Human Family Tree (National Geographic Channel) – nominated for Outstanding Science and Technology Programming Emmy

See also

References

  1. ^ Seaver, Randy (February 7, 2014). "Randy at RootsTech: Dr. Spencer Wells Talks DNA and Genetics - Friday Keynote #2". Randy at RootsTech. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  2. ^ Wells, Spencer The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (Random House, 2003), p. 93; originally published by Princeton University Press, 2002.
  3. ISBN 0-8129-7146-9
  4. ^ "Documentary Redraws Humans' Family Tree". News.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2002. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  5. ^ "Waitt Foundation". Waitt Foundation. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  6. ^ Wells, Spencer (July 2007). "Out of Africa". Vanity Fair. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  7. ^ "Spencer Wells builds a family tree for humanity". TED (conference). Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  8. ^ Wells, Spencer (2013). "The Genographic Project and the Rise of Citizen Science". Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS). Archived from the original on July 10, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  9. ^ "Former College Professor Is a Rabid Antisemite — and Must Be Condemned". The Algemeiner. July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  10. ^ "University of Texas Repudiates Ex-Professor Who Called for Israel to Be Bombed 'Until the Sand Turns to Glass'". The Algemeiner. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  11. ^ "Explainer: Israel, annexation and the West Bank". BBC News. June 25, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  12. ^ "Global reaction to Israel's imminent annexation plans". July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
  13. ^ "Former College Professor Is a Rabid Antisemite — and Must Be Condemned". The Algemeiner. July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "University of Texas Repudiates Ex-Professor Who Called for Israel to Be Bombed 'Until the Sand Turns to Glass'". The Algemeiner. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  15. ^ UT Austin [@@UTAustin] (June 29, 2020). "Spencer Wells is no longer a faculty or advisory council member at UT. He previously had a courtesy, unpaid appointment as a part-time adjunct that did not involve teaching. That ended in May and was not renewed. We do not have any association with the views held by Mr. Wells" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "One on One: Growing Pains -- National Geographic Traveller". National Geographic. October 20, 2010. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  17. ^ "About | Shambhala Expeditions".

External links

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