[Into the Past] lucidly and inspiringly … not only records Phillip Tobias’s personal journey in life, science and education, but also the passage of our country, South Africa ….
—Sydney Brenner, Nobel Laureate

Phillip Valentine Tobias is arguably South Africa’s most honoured and decorated scientist. Into the Past focuses on the first forty years of Tobias’s life: from his troubled childhood in Durban and Bloemfontein to his intense student days at Wits University (where he also taught from 1945 until 1993) and the prolific research, correspondence and travels of his early career. He vividly recounts his interactions with some of the great names in twentieth century science. Through his dedication to the people of Africa, Tobias opens windows on the San (or Bushmen) of Botswana, the Tonga of Zambia and he recounts his role in the fight against racism during the harrowing decades of South Africa’s apartheid regime.

Foreword by Sydney Brenner

Phillip V. Tobias is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Anatomical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

With Pan Macmillan