Henry Harpending

Henry Cosad Harpending (January 13, 1944 – April 3, 2016) was an American anthropologist and distinguished professor at the University of Utah, best known for his 2009 book The 10,000 Year Explosion, co-authored with Gregory Cochran. Educated at Hamilton College and Harvard University, his career included faculty positions at Penn State and the University of New Mexico. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Harpending worked primarily in biological anthropology and population genetics, but also conducted ethnographic fieldwork with the !Kung and Herero peoples of Southern Africa. His work in population genetics pioneered the study of the relationship between genetics and geography. In The 10,000 Year Explosion, Harpending and Cochrane argued that human evolution has accelerated since the development of agriculture around 10,000 years ago and drove much of human history, including their controversial theory that Ashkenazi Jews became more intelligent than other people due to natural selection in the Middle Ages. This and other aspects of the book were criticised for its reliance on discredited theories of biological race and a lack of evidence for many of their claims.

Outside of his scientific publications, Harpending made numerous racist comments concerning innate negative characteristics of black people, the genetic superiority of Europeans and East Asians, and advocated for eugenics. He was associated with far-right organisations and the Southern Poverty Law Center described him as a white nationalist.

Harpending was married twice and had three children. He died in 2016.