death_date birth_place name field work_institutions birth_date article_title birth_name
december 20 , 2005 new york city william w. howells anthropology harvard university november 27 , 1908 william w. howells
 william white howells
william w. howells

dr. william white howells -lrb- november 27 , 1908 -- december 20 , 2005 -rrb- was a professor of anthropology at harvard university .
his most notable research concluded that modern humans are of one species .
howells , grandson of the novelist william dean howells , was born in new york city , the son of john mead howells , the architect of the chicago tribune tower , and abby macdougall white .
he graduated with an s.b. in 1930 and obtained a doctorate from harvard in 1934 and worked for the american museum of natural history .
he lectured at the university of wisconsin -- madison from 1937 to 1954 , serving as a lieutenant in the office of naval intelligence during world war ii .
he taught at harvard from 1954 until his retirement in 1974 .
he was president of the american anthropological association in 1951 .
in 1998 , with his wife muriel seabury , howells endowed the directorship of the peabody museum of archaeology and ethnology at harvard .
`` professor howells had a moderating effect '' over the origins of modern humans as he `` tended toward the noah 's ark theory . ''
