Neil H. Shubin

Neil Shubin (born December 22, 1960) is an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Professor on the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago along with being the Provost of the Field Museum of Natural History. He is best known for his co-discovery of Tiktaalik roseae with Ted Daeschler and Farish Jenkins.

On February 4, 2026, it was announced that Shubin has been elected to be the next president of the National Academy of Sciences with his term beginning July 1, 2026.

Biography Raised in Overbrook Hills section of Lower Merion Township (contiguous to City of Philadelphia) and a graduate of Lower Merion High School, Shubin earned a A.B. from Columbia University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1987. He also studied at the University of California, Berkeley.

Shubin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

Shubin was ABC News' "Person of the Week" in April 2006 when Tiktaalik was unveiled, and made appearances on The Colbert Report January 14, 2008 and January 9, 2013.

The Communication Awards of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine awarded a $20,000 prize for excellence in communicating science to the general public to Michael Rosenfeld, David Dugan, and Neil Shubin in Film/Radio/TV on October 14, 2015, for Your Inner Fish. The awards are given to individuals in four categories: books, film/radio/TV, magazine/newspaper and online, and are supported by the W. M. Keck Foundation. Neil Shubin hosted Your Inner Fish on PBS. The show was produced by Windfall Films and Tangled Bank Studios, a production company for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that makes materials available for science classroom education.

He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2017. He also served as interim co-director of the Marine Biological Laboratory in 2017.

In 2026, Shubin was elected president of the National Academy of Sciences, succeeding Marcia McNutt when her final term ends on June 30, 2026.

Below is a list of taxa that Shubin has contributed to naming: YearTaxonAuthors2022Qikiqtania wakei gen. et sp. nov.Stewart, Lemberg, Daly, Daeschler & Shubin 2019Asterolepis alticristata sp. nov.Downs, Daeschler, Lo, Carey & Shubin 2018Eusthenopteron jenkinsi sp. nov.Downs, Daeschler, Long & Shubin 2017Cyclotosaurus naraserluki sp. nov.Marzola, Mateus, Shubin & Clemmensen 2016Bothriolepis rex sp. nov.Downs, Daeschler, Garcia & Shubin 2012Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis gen. et sp. nov.Gao & Shubin 2011Laccognathus embryi sp. nov.Downs, Daeschler, Jenkins & Shubin 2011Diodorus scytobrachion gen. et sp. nov.Kammerer, Nesbitt & Shubin 2006Tiktaalik roseae gen. et sp. nov.Daeschler, Shubin & Jenkins 2003Equijubus normani gen. et sp. nov.You, Luo, Shubin, Witmer, Tang & Tang 2001Eudimorphodon cromptonellus sp. nov.Jenkins, Shubin, Gatesy & Padian 2001Sinerpeton fengshanensis gen. et sp. nov.Gao & Shubin 1998Antlerpeton clarkii gen. et sp. nov.Thomson, Shubin & Poole 1997Haramiyavia clemensi gen. et sp. nov.Jenkins, Gatesy, Shubin & Amaral 1995Prosalirus bitis gen. et sp. nov.Shubin & Jenkins 1994Protosuchus micmac sp. nov.Sues, Shubin, Olsen & Amaral 1994Hynerpeton bassetti gen. et sp. nov.Daeschler, Shubin, Thomson & Amaral 1994Clevosaurus bairdi sp. nov.Sues, Shubin & Olsen 1991Arctotraversodon gen. nov.Sues, Hopson & Shubin

Awards and honors In 2019, Shubin was named the recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award. Shubin was chosen primarily because of his discoveries to understand the origin of organs in the human body and the connectiveness of all life.

Publications Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008. The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People. Pantheon Books, New York City 2013. Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA. New York: Pantheon Books, 2020. Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future. New York: Dutton, 2025.