Peter Klopfer

Peter Hubert Klopfer (born August 9, 1930) is a German-born American zoologist, civil rights advocate and educator. He is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Duke University, where in 1966 he co-founded, with John Buettner-Janusch, the Duke Lemur Center (formerly Duke Primate Center). This facility houses the largest living collection of endangered primates in the world.

Peter Klopfer is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1963) and the Animal Behavior Society (1968). In 1979–80 he received the Humboldt Research Award for his achievements in the field of Sensory and Behavioral Biology.

As a scientist Klopfer has authored, co-authored or edited twenty-five volumes and more than 125 peer-reviewed articles, most in the field of animal behavior. Among other contributions, Klopfer's research helped to establish the link between oxytocin and maternal attachment behavior and to initiate study of neural processes involved in hibernation among primates

As a civil rights advocate Klopfer was jailed in 1964 for protesting segregated restaurant facilities in Orange County, North Carolina. He subsequently became the plaintiff in the 1967 United States Supreme Court case, ''Klopfer v. North Carolina,'' which upheld that the Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution applies to individual states in the same way as it does to the federal government.

As an educator Klopfer and his wife, Martha Smith Klopfer, were among the Quakers who founded Carolina Friends School in 1962. CFS was one of the first schools in the modern South that welcomed children of all races. Provided by Wikipedia