Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, born July 11, 1946, is an American anthropologist whose contributions to the field of evolutionary psychology revolutionized modern understanding of mothers and motherhood. Her perspectives on maternal behavior in humans have influenced fields from public policy to cultural anthropology to ethnopediatrics.

Hrdy was born into a wealthy family in Texas and left for college at age 16. She earned a bachelor's degree from Radcliff College in 1969 and a doctorate degree from Harvard in 1975. In 1972, she married Daniel Hrdy, and together they had three children, Katrinka (born 1977), Sasha (born 1982), and Niko (born 1986). In 1990, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992. She ...