Robin Dunbar

Robin, currently Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Oxford, is renowned for creating a formula which is now known as 'Dunbar's number' - and that number is 150. This calculates the 'cognitive limit' of the number of people we can hold meaningful friendships with. When it was first formulated it created a fevered debate about the nature of and the differences between, online and real 'friendships'. Robin has also explored the psychology and ethology of romantic love to find out if the brain - and science - can help us explain how and why we fall in love.