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Dr. Charles F. Merbs
1936 -
Forensic Anthropologist

Born in Neenah, Wisconsin, in 1936. He is of Polish ancestry on his mother's side, with ties going back to the Warsaw and Poznan areas. All of his degrees (B.S., M.S. and Ph.D.) are from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His doctoral major was anthropology and medical genetics. He taught at the University of Chicago for 10 years (1964-73) before moving to Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), where he currently is Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Merbs specializes in studies of the human skeleton, especially the areas of pathology and trauma. A specialty of his is the identification of activity patterns from skeletal markers. He has worked more with ancient skeletons than modem, but as a forensic anthropologist he has aided medical examiners in Wisconsin, Illinois and Arizona on cases involving personal identification and homicide. He says that his two most exciting cases came at the very beginning and very end of his forensic career, the Edward Gein case (inspiration for the movies "Psycho" and "Silence of the Lambs") in 1957, and his recent study of the remains of General Pulaski.

From: Resume (2008)

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