   robert broom frs (30 november 1866, paisley â 6 april 1951) was a scottish south african doctor and paleontologist. he qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his dsc in 1905 from the university of glasgow. in 1893 he married mary baird baillie.johanson, donald & maitland edey. lucy: the beginnings of humankind. new york: simon & schuster, 1990 isbn 978-0-671-25036-2findlay, george h. robert broom f.r.s. palaeontologist & physician 1866-1951: biography / appreciation /bibliography. cape town: a. a. balkema, 1972. isbn 978-0-86961-018-3 from 1903 to 1910 he was professor of zoology and geology at victoria college, stellenbosch, south africa, and subsequently he became keeper of vertebrate paleontology at the south african museum, cape town. == contributions == broom was first known for his study of mammal-like reptiles. after raymond dart's discovery of the taung child, an infant australopithecine, broom's interest in paleoanthropology was heightened. broom's career seemed over and he was sinking into poverty, when dart wrote to jan smuts about the situation. smuts, exerting pressure on the south african government, managed to obtain a position for broom in 1934 with the staff of the transvaal museum in pretoria as an assistant in palaeontology. in the following years, he and john t. robinson made a series of spectacular finds, including fragments from six hominids in sterkfontein, which they named plesianthropus transvaalensis, popularly called mrs. ples, but which was later classified as an adult australopithecus africanus, as well as more discoveries at sites in kromdraai and swartkrans. in 1937, broom made his most famous discovery of paranthropus robustus. these discoveries helped support dart's claims for the taung species. the remainder of broom's career was devoted to the exploration of these sites and the interpretation of the many early hominid remains discovered there. for his volume, the south africa fossil ape-men, the australopithecinae, in which he proposed the australopithecinae subfamily, broom was awarded the daniel giraud elliot medal from the [[united states nation
1866_births 1951_deaths 20th-century_Scottish_medical_doctors Alumni_of_the_University_of_Glasgow Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society National_Academy_of_Sciences_laureates Paleoanthropologists People_from_Renfrewshire Physical_anthropologists Royal_Medal_winners Scottish_palaeontologists Scottish_scholars_and_academics South_African_medical_doctors South_African_paleontologists South_African_writers Spiritualists Stellenbosch_University_faculty Wollaston_Medal_winners Writers_from_Paisley