Among his many significant students were Alfred Louis Kroeber, Alexander Goldenweiser, Ruth Benedict, Edward Sapir, Margaret Mead, Zora Neale Hurston, and Gilberto Freyre.īoas was one of the most prominent opponents of the then-popular ideologies of scientific racism, the idea that race is a biological concept and that human behavior is best understood through the typology of biological characteristics. Through his students, many of whom went on to found anthropology departments and research programmes inspired by their mentor, Boas profoundly influenced the development of American anthropology. In 1887 he emigrated to the United States, where he first worked as a museum curator at the Smithsonian, and in 1899 became a professor of anthropology at Columbia University, where he remained for the rest of his career.

He went on to do field work with the indigenous cultures and languages of the Pacific Northwest. He then participated in a geographical expedition to northern Canada, where he became fascinated with the culture and language of the Baffin Island Inuit. Studying in Germany, Boas was awarded a doctorate in 1881 in physics while also studying geography.

His work is associated with the movements known as historical particularism and cultural relativism.

Franz Uri Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the 'Father of American Anthropology'.

Boas primitive art