{{Short description|Indonesian paleoanthropologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Teuku Jacob | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1929|12|06}} | birth_place = Peureulak, Aceh, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2007|10|17|1929|12|06}} | death_place = Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia | fields = Paleoanthropology<br />Paleontology | workplaces = Gadjah Mada University | alma_mater = Utrecht University (Ph.D.; 1967) | notable_students = | known_for = Contributions to biological anthropology }} '''Teuku Jacob''' (6 December 1929 – 17 October 2007) was an Indonesian paleoanthropologist. As a student of Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald in the 1950s, Jacob claimed to have discovered and studied numerous specimens of ''Homo erectus''. He came to international prominence as a vocal critic of scientists who believed remains discovered in Flores belonged to a new species in the genus ''Homo'', ''Homo floresiensis''.
== Early life == Teuku Jacob was born on 6 December 1929 in Peureulak, East Aceh, to parents Soeleiman and Tjut Kariman.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-09-05 |title=Sosok Prof. Dr. Teuku Jacob, Paleoantropolog Pertama di Indonesia dari Aceh Timur |url=https://www.merdeka.com/sumut/sosok-prof-dr-teuku-jacob-paleoantropolog-pertama-di-indonesia-dari-aceh-timur-191599-mvk.html |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=merdeka.com |language=en}}</ref> He was the youngest of three children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof Dr Teuku Jacob (1929-2007), “Pithecantropus” Ahli Fosil – Rumah Pengetahuan – house of knowledge |url=https://rumahpengetahuan.web.id/prof-dr-teuku-jacob-1929-2007-pithecantropus-ahli-fosil/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250516203843/https://rumahpengetahuan.web.id/prof-dr-teuku-jacob-1929-2007-pithecantropus-ahli-fosil/ |archive-date=2025-05-16 |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=rumahpengetahuan.web.id |language=id}}</ref>
From childhood he attended HIS Poesaka in Peureulak in 1936 and HIS Langsa in 1938, completing his primary education in 1942. He then studied at Kokumin Gakkö in Langsa during 1942–1943, followed by Sekolah Tygakkö until 1945. After the Indonesian National Revolution, he pursued secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Tinggi Kutaraja in Banda Aceh from 1946 to 1949.<ref name=":0" />
==Career== Jacob studied at Gadjah Mada University's School of Medicine from 1950 to 1956; University of Arizona from 1957 to 1958; Howard University from 1958 to 1960, and finally Utrecht University, where he completed his doctorate in anthropology in 1967.<ref name="jakarta">{{cite news | last=Wahyuni | first=Sri | title=The Professor's Biography | url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter49/text49.htm#biography | date=24 May 2003 | newspaper=Jakarta Post | access-date=2009-05-07 | archive-date=2009-04-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429224613/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter49/text49.htm#biography | url-status=dead }}</ref> As a young adult, Jacob actively participated in the Indonesian National Revolution, producing a nationalist radio program. After the end of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies during World War II, Jacob served in the Indonesian armed forces. From 1982 to 1987, Jacob was also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly.<ref name="wahyuni">{{cite news | last=Wahyuni | first=Sri | author2=A. Junaidi | title=Obituary: Influential paleontologist T. Jacob dies at 77 | url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/10/19/obituary-influential-paleontologist-t-jacob-dies-77.html | date=19 October 2007 | newspaper=Jakarta Post | access-date=2009-05-07 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722195504/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/10/19/obituary-influential-paleontologist-t-jacob-dies-77.html | archive-date=22 July 2009 }}</ref>
Jacob died in Dr. Sardjito Hospital at the age of 77 after suffering from a debilitating liver disease.<ref name="wahyuni"/>
==''Homo floresiensis''== Jacob came to international prominence when he expressed his disagreement with scientists who claimed that remains found on the island of Flores constituted a new human species, labeled ''Homo floresiensis''. Jacob insisted that the remains were those of microcephalic modern humans. In early December 2004, Jacob removed most of the remains from Soejono's institution, Jakarta's National Research Centre of Archaeology, for his own research without the permission of the centre's directors.<ref>{{cite news |first=Steve |last=Connor|newspaper=New Zealand Herald |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=82&ObjectID=8500998 | title=Hobbit woman' remains spark row among academics|date= 30 November 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |newspaper=New Scientist | url=https://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18424772.900 | title=Fight over access to 'hobbit' bones – being-human | date=11 December 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Times Online| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1386423,00.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20070211073220/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1386423,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 11, 2007|date= 3 December 2004 | title=Professor fuels row over Hobbit man fossils | location=London}}</ref>
Jacob eventually returned the remains with portions severely damaged<ref name="smh.com.au">{{cite news |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Science/Hobbits-triumph-tempered-by-tragedy/2005/03/04/1109700677461.html|title=Hobbits triumph tempered by tragedy|date= 5 March 2005 }}</ref> and missing two leg bones on February 23, 2005.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/23282/title/Flores-hominid-bones-returned/ | publisher=The Scientist|title=Flores hominid bones returned |date=28 February 2005|last=Powledge|first= Tabitha M.| access-date=28 February 2009}}</ref> Reports noted the condition of the returned remains included "long, deep cuts marking the lower edge of the Hobbit's jaw on both sides, said to be caused by a knife used to cut away the rubber mould"; "the chin of a second Hobbit snapped off and glued back together. Whoever was responsible misaligned the pieces and put them at an incorrect angle"; and, "The pelvis was smashed, destroying details that reveal body shape, gait and evolutionary history".<ref name="bbc-restart">{{cite news |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6294101.stm |title=Hobbit cave digs set to restart |date= 25 January 2007 }}</ref> This prompted the discovery team leader Morwood to remark "It's sickening, Jacob was greedy and acted totally irresponsibly".<ref name="smh.com.au"/>
Jacob, however, denied any wrongdoing. He stated that such damage occurred during transport from Yogyakarta back to Jakarta<ref name="bbc-restart"/> despite the physical evidence to the contrary that the jawbone had been broken while making a mold of bones.<ref name="smh.com.au"/>
In 2005 Indonesian officials forbade access to the cave and thus no other excavations in the place were possible. The BBC expressed the opinion that the reason for the restriction was to protect Jacob from being proven wrong. Scientists were allowed to return to the cave in 2007, the same year that Jacob died from liver disease.<ref name="bbc-restart"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Teuku}} Category:1929 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Acehnese people Category:People from Peureulak Sultanate Category:People from Yogyakarta Category:Paleoanthropologists Category:Indonesian anthropologists Category:20th-century Indonesian scientists Category:Utrecht University alumni Category:Gadjah Mada University alumni Category:Academic staff of Gadjah Mada University Category:Members of the People's Consultative Assembly Category:Deaths from liver disease Category:20th-century anthropologists