Alan Templeton

Alan R. Templeton is an American geneticist and statistician at Washington University in St. Louis, where he holds the Charles Rebstock professorship in biology, and also at the University of Haifa, where he holds a professorship in the Institute of Evolution and the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology. He is known for his work demonstrating the degree of genetic differences between humans of different races. According to Templeton's research, perceived differences in races are more related to cultural perceptions and biases than any underlying genetic reality. For example, Templeton's statistical analysis of the human genome shows that much greater genetic diversity exists between populations of chimpanzees than humans.

Using data from the International HapMap Project and the 1000 Genomes project, Templeton and a team of researchers looked at mutations encompassing the gephyrin gene of chromosome 14 and were able to trace the split back to the last common ancestor.