Muzaffer Süleyman Senyürek was one of the most prominent Turkish physical anthropologists. He studied under the famous American anthropologist Earnest Hooton at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in physical anthropology in 1939. Upon his return to Turkey in 1940 he was appointed as a docent (from 1958 professor) in the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography in Ankara. He died in an airplane crash near Ankara at the peak of his career.
Senyürek returned to the United States for research purposes in 1946-1947 and became a member of both the American Anthropological Society and the American Society of Physical Anthropologists. He was known internationally as one of the foremost experts on the early Anatolians. One of his main fields of interest was palaeoanthropology, primarily dental analysis of fossil hominids, and he was known as a firm proponent of the multidisciplinary approach in palaeoanthropology. His contribution to South African science lies in his analysis of the dentition of australopithecines, published as "The dentition of Plesianthropus and Paranthropus" in Annals of the Transvaal Museum(1941, Vol. 20, pp. 203-302). He was one of the first scientists to support the views of Raymond Dart* and Robert Broom*, later generally accepted, regarding the place of australopithecines in human evolutionary history.
Senyürek published about 80 books and scientific papers. He was a meticulous academic and was adored by his students.
