Black, Davidson National Historic Person
Toronto, Ontario
Dr. Black and Dr. Bohlin at Choukoutien
(© University of Toronto Archives | Archives de l'Université de Toronto / B2011-0011/004P(42))
Address :
1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1974-05-18
Life Date:
1884 to 1934
Other Name(s):
-
Black, Davidson
(Designation Name)
Importance:
Physician and palaeontologist, identified "Peking Man" fossils (1927)
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: Inside Medical Science Building, University of Toronto 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario
Davidson Black was born and educated in Toronto. He had begun a career in medicine when Sir Grafton Elliot Smith interested him in the problem of fossil man. After World War I, Black accepted a post at the Pekin Union Medical College, considering China to be lively field for his studies. There, in 1927, on the basis of a fossil tooth found at Chou Kou Tien, he identified a new genus and species of hominid, Sinanthropus pekinensis. This discovery of "Peking man" was subsequently confirmed by the excavations of W.C. Pei and a team of Chinese and European scientists working with Black. He died in China.