Photo: Chris Kirchhoff/MediaClubSA

Professor Phillip Tobias with a collection of fossil hominid skulls from east and southern Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Pretoria — President Jacob Zuma has sent condolences to the family of the late Professor Philip Tobias, one of South Africa's leading scientists, who passed away on Thursday after a long illness.

"We have lost a renowned scientist, a scholar and a unique human being. Our country remains eternally proud of his work. On behalf of government and the people of South Africa, we extend our deepest condolences and may his soul rest in peace," said Zuma.

South Africa's foremost palaeo-anthropologist and a full professor since the 1950's, Professor Tobias, among other things, successfully campaigned for the Sterkfontein Caves to be proclaimed a World Heritage site.

With a tinge of humour, he was also renowned for demystifying complex science to everyday life and language, as his programmes on television bore testimony.

Professor Tobias also had the rare distinction of holding three professorships simultaneously at the University of the Witwatersrand, leading and producing ground-breaking research into the origins of human form as we know it, through the "study of the bone".

He was also instrumental in taking forward the research started by Professor Raymond Dart, who was famous for his discovery of what became known as the Taung Skull in 1924.

The skull is now seen as belonging to a child of the humanoid Australopithecus Africanus genus, a new species then and a new link in the chain which ends with modern humankind - Homo sapiens.

South Africa also owes a debt of gratitude to Professor Tobias for his successful efforts to have the remains of Saartjie Bartmann returned to South Africa.

He led negotiations with France on behalf of the South African government. The remains of Saartjie Bartmann, which were exhibited in Paris as ethnological and sexual curiosities in the 19th century, finally returned home in May 2002.

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor and her Deputy Minister Derek Hanekom have also conveyed their condolences to the family of Prof Tobias.

In their message of condolence, they said the late Professor Tobias will always be revered for his profound research in palaeo-anthropology.

"The Department of Science and Technology would like to convey their sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Prof Tobias. He will always be remembered for his immense contribution in palaeo-anthropology," said Pandor.

The contribution to research by Professor Tobias in the fields of genetics, through anatomical studies to palaeo-anthropology is well known. It is this contribution that led the department to establishing an annual Professor Philip Tobias Lecture and Award in honour of his contribution.

The inaugural Phillip Tobias Lecture was delivered by the esteemed 2002 Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine, Professor Sydney Brenner in 2004 and Professor Malekgapuru Makgoba, a renowned molecular immunologist, delivered the last in 2008.