James Norman Spuhler (March 1, 1917 – September 2, 1992)[1] was an American biological anthropologist who has been described as "the founder of anthropological genetics".
[1] While studying at Harvard he wrote his dissertation on human genetics, which was one of the first of this topic submitted to any Department of Anthropology in the United States.
[2] His dissertation prevented information for his two different subjects of expertise: human genetics and physical anthropology.
[2] The nine traits included in the study were a secrater factor of saliva, PTC taste reaction, anterior thoracic venus patterns, color perceptions, occipital hair whorl, absence of peroneus teritus muscles, and the number of vallate papillae on the tongue.
[2] He and other scholars cooperatively researched the genetic and environmental variations that would account for the racial-ethnic differences in IQ.
[3] There were a wide array of study topics including race, intelligence, language, relationships among species, and human evolution.