Nina G. Jablonski is an American anthropologist and palaeobiologist, known for her research into the evolution of skin color in humans. She is engaged in public education about human evolution, human diversity, and racism. In 2021, she was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and in 2009, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society. She is an Evan Pugh University Professor at The Pennsylvania State University, and the author of the books Skin: A Natural History, Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color, and the co-author of Skin We Are In.
Jablonski in 2017
Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics, exposure to the sun, disorders, or some combination thereof. Differences across populations evolved through natural selection or sexual selection, because of social norms and differences in environment, as well as regulations of the biochemical effects of ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin.
Extended Coloured (Afrikaans: Kleurlinge or Bruinmense) family from South Africa showing some spectrum of human skin coloration
Former Chief Justice of India, P. Sathasivam, has vitiligo
A suntanned arm showing darker skin where it has been exposed. This pattern of tanning is often called a farmer's tan.