Background
Kortlandt, Adriaan was born on January 25, 1918 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Arrived in England, 1988.
biologist university professor
Kortlandt, Adriaan was born on January 25, 1918 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Arrived in England, 1988.
Bachelor in Geography, University Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1940. Master of Arts in Psychology and Geography, University Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1943. Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1949.
He was famous for his work on displacement activities (Dutch: overspronggedrag) and the hierarchy of instincts. Already in the thirties he realised the common characteristics between instincts in humans and other animals. In one of his experiments in Western Africa he exposed a stuffed panther with an electronic moving head to chimpanzees, who attacked it with sticks, thus illustrating to which extent early man could have kept wild animals at bay even before spears and other weapons were invented.
He also was the author of the "Rift Valley theory", better known under the name given by French paleoanthropologist Yves Coppens: "East Side Story".
Member Underground Resistance, World World War World War II.