History of Human Biology (1929-2009).

The journal Human Biology was founded 80 years ago by Raymond Pearl, an eminent biologist and professor of biometry and vital statistics at Johns Hopkins University. In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of this journal, I was invited by Franz Manni (Executive Editor) to update a previously published history of Human Biology on the 75th anniversary of its founding (Crawford 2004). In the 1989 special issue “Foundations of Anthropological Genetics,” Gabriel W. Lasker compiled an earlier historical account of the journal. Additional comments about the circumstances surrounding his acceptance of the editorship of Human Biology in 1953 and the early years of his editorship are contained in Chapter 12 of Lasker’s memoirs, Happenings and Hearsay (Lasker 1999). In this review of the history of Human Biology I place greater emphasis on the periods that I know best, that is, from 1988 to the present, when I was the editor-in-chief, consulting editor, or the liaison between the sponsoring organization [American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG)] and the current triumvirate of editors. I have also provided a timeline of the significant events associated with 80 years of publication of this distinguished journal and an analysis of the changes in topical coverage and focus from 1929 to the present.