Laurie Godfrey

{{Short description|American paleontologist and anthropologist}}

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| name = Laurie Godfrey

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| birth_name = Laurie Rohde Godfrey

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|08|27}}

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| nationality = American

| fields = Anthropology
Paleontology

| workplaces = University of Massachusetts Amherst

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| alma_mater = Harvard University

| thesis_title = Structure and Function in Archaeolemur and Hadropithecus (subfossil Malagasy Lemurs): The Postcranial Evidence

| thesis_url = https://books.google.com/books/about/Structure_and_Function_in_Archaeolemur_a.html?id=kUo2AwEACAAJ

| thesis_year = 1977

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| known_for = Research on the lemurs of Madagascar

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| awards = Guggenheim Fellowship (2008){{Cite web |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/laurie-r-godfrey/ |title=Laurie R. Godfrey |website=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation |language=en-US |access-date=2018-12-02}}

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Laurie R. Godfrey (born August 27, 1945){{Cite web |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n77016303.html |title=Godfrey, Laurie R. |website=Library of Congress Name Authority File |publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=2018-12-02}} is an American paleontologist and physical anthropologist.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/15/books/nonfiction-in-brief-157369.html |title=Nonfiction In Brief|last=Bayles |first=Martha |date=1983-05-15 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-12-02 |language=en |author-link=Martha Bayles|quote=The editor, Laurie R. Godfrey, is a physical anthropologist...}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/africa/underwater-fossil-lemur-graveyard-madagascar/index.html |title=Divers discover underwater graveyard of extinct giants |last=Carrington |first=Daisy |date=2015-03-19 |work=CNN |access-date=2018-12-02}} She is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.{{Cite press release |title=Team Led by Godfrey Finds Immense Underwater 'Lemur Graveyards' in Caves of Madagascar |publisher=University of Massachusetts Amherst |url=http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/team-led-godfrey-finds-immense-underwater- |language=en |access-date=2018-12-02 |website=Office of News & Media Relations }} Her research has focused on the evolutionary history of the present-day lemur populations of Madagascar.{{Cite web |url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/science-bulletins/bio/documentaries/lemurs-of-madagascar/article-lemurs-in-madagascar-then |title=Article: Lemurs in Madagascar—Then |website=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=2018-12-02}}{{Cite web |url=https://phys.org/news/2016-02-humans-madagascar-forests-years.html |title=Humans settled, set fire to Madagascar's forests 1,000 years ago |last=Chu |first=Jennifer |date=2016-02-18 |website=Phys.org |access-date=2018-12-02}} An outspoken critic of creationism and advocate for the teaching of evolution in schools, she has edited three books on the subject: Scientists Confront Creationism (1983), What Darwin Began: Modern Darwinian and Non-Darwinian Perspectives on Evolution (1985), and (with A.J. Petto) Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism (2007).