Helen Fisher

Anthropologist Helen Fisher studied gender differences and the evolution of human emotions. She was best known as an expert on romantic love. Fisher's several books lay bare the mysteries of our most treasured emotion: its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its vital importance to human society. Fisher described love as a universal human drive (stronger than the sex drive; stronger than thirst or hunger; stronger perhaps than the will to live), and her many areas of inquiry shed light on timeless human mysteries like why we choose one partner over another. Her classic study, Anatomy of Love, includes her neuroimaging research on lust, romantic love, attachment and what she called “slow love.”