Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (L.S.B. Leakey) (August 7, 1903 – October 1, 1972) was a Kenyan archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there. Having been a prime mover in establishing a tradition of palaeoanthropological inquiry, he was able to motivate the next generation to continue it, notably within his own family, many of whom also became prominent. Louis participated in national events of British East Africa and then Kenya in critical if less spectacular ways.

In natural philosophy he asserted Charles Darwin's theory of evolution unswervingly and set about to prove Darwin's hypothesis that man arose in Africa. A religious man and a Christian, he said:

Nothing I've ever found has contradicted the Bible. It's people with their finite minds who misread the Bible.