A. L. Kroeber

Alfred Louis Kroeber earned his doctorate under Franz Boas at Columbia in 1901, the first anthropology PhD the university ever awarded. Berkeley hired him to launch its anthropology department, and from 1909 to 1947 he directed its Museum of Anthropology, shaping both institutions from the ground up. His most scrutinized work came through Ishi, the last surviving Yahi, whom Kroeber studied over several years — a relationship that has drawn both scholarly interest and ethical reexamination. He died in 1960. His daughter, Ursula K. Le Guin, became one of the century's most influential science fi…