Eske Willerslev (born 5 June 1971) is a Danish evolutionary geneticist notable for his pioneering work in molecular anthropology, palaeontology, and ecology. He currently holds the Prince Philip Professorship in Ecology and Evolution at University of Cambridge, UK and the Lundbeck Foundation Professorship in Evolution at Copenhagen University, Denmark.<\/p>\n
Eske Willerslev is not exactly how one imagines a scientist in the world elite. As a boy growing up in Denmark, Eske Willerslev could not wait to leave Gentofte, his suburban hometown. In his youth he was at odds with the law, he was dyslectic, and he struggled academically. As soon as he was old enough, he would strike out for the Arctic wilderness with his twin brother Rane. Eske Willerslev is one of the early pioneers of the study of ancient DNA, and today he remains at the forefront of an increasingly competitive field. His colleagues credit his success to his relentless work and to his skill at building international networks of collaborators. Eske Willerslev led the first successful sequencing of an ancient human genome. His research on a 24,000-year-old Siberian skeleton revealed an unexpected connection between Europeans and Native Americans. At the age of 33, Willerslev became Full Professor at University of Copenhagen \u2013 the youngest in Denmark at the time. He is a member of The Adventurers\u2019 Club and has led expeditions to amongst others Siberia and Greenland as well as lived as both a fur trapper and a native indian. He has held a number of prestigious professorships and been awarded numerous awards, including the Rosenkj\u00e6r Award and the Genius Award from Danish Science Journalists for \u201can impressive array of research successes in the public eye, combined with a unique tour-de-force through university\u201d. He is one of the few scientists that has succeeded in approaching and being accepted by several of the World\u2019s indigenous peoples, which even led to the adoption into the Native American Crow-tribe under the indian name of \u201cWell-Known Wolf\u201c.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eske Willerslev (born 5 June 1971) is a Danish evolutionary geneticist notable for his pioneering work in molecular anthropology, palaeontology, and ecology. He currently holds the Prince Philip Professorship in Ecology and Evolution at University of Cambridge, UK and the Lundbeck Foundation Professorship in Evolution at Copenhagen University, Denmark. Eske Willerslev is not exactly how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-participant","tag-participant"],"yoast_head":"\n