Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American
paleoanthropologist. He is known for discovering, with
Yves Coppens
Yves Coppens (9 August 1934 – 22 June 2022) was a French anthropologist. A graduate from the University of Rennes and Sorbonne, he studied ancient hominids and had multiple published works on this topic, and also produced a film. In October ...
and
Maurice Taieb
Maurice Taieb (22 July 1935 – 23 July 2021) was a French geologist and paleoanthropologist. He discovered the Hadar formation, recognized its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founded the International Afar Research Expedition (I ...
, the fossil of a female
hominin
The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas).
The ...
australopithecine
Australopithecina or Hominina is a subtribe in the tribe Hominini. The members of the subtribe are generally ''Australopithecus'' (cladistically including the genera ''Homo'', '' Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus''), and it typically includ ...
known as "
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
" in the
Afar Triangle
The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; t ...
region of
Hadar, Ethiopia
Hadar (also spelled ''Qad daqar'', ''Qadaqar''; Afar "white 'qidi''stream 'daqar'')Jon Kalb ''Adventures in the Bone Trade'' (New York: Copernicus Books, 2001), p. 83 is a paleontological site in Mille district, Administrative Zone 1 of the ...
.
Biography
Early life and education
Johanson was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
to Swedish parents. He is the nephew of wrestler
Ivar Johansson.
He earned a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
in 1966 and his
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. (1970) and
PhD (1974) from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. At the time of the discovery of Lucy, he was an associate professor of anthropology at
Case Western Reserve University. In 1981, he established the
Institute of Human Origins
The Institute of Human Origins (IHO) is a non-profit, multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to the recovery and analysis of the fossil evidence for human evolution. It was founded by the team of paleoanthropologists that discovered Luc ...
in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, which he moved to
Arizona State University in 1997. Johanson holds an honorary doctorate from
Case Western Reserve University and was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Westfield State College
Westfield State University (Westfield State) is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by Horace Mann as the first public co-educational college in America without barrier to race, gender, or economic class.
Ran ...
in 2008. He is an
atheist.
"Lucy"
Lucy was discovered in
Hadar, Ethiopia
Hadar (also spelled ''Qad daqar'', ''Qadaqar''; Afar "white 'qidi''stream 'daqar'')Jon Kalb ''Adventures in the Bone Trade'' (New York: Copernicus Books, 2001), p. 83 is a paleontological site in Mille district, Administrative Zone 1 of the ...
on November 24, 1974 when the team, directed by paleontologists
Yves Coppens
Yves Coppens (9 August 1934 – 22 June 2022) was a French anthropologist. A graduate from the University of Rennes and Sorbonne, he studied ancient hominids and had multiple published works on this topic, and also produced a film. In October ...
,
Maurice Taieb
Maurice Taieb (22 July 1935 – 23 July 2021) was a French geologist and paleoanthropologist. He discovered the Hadar formation, recognized its potential importance to paleoanthropology and founded the International Afar Research Expedition (I ...
and Johanson, coaxed away from his paperwork by graduate student
Tom Gray
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
for a spur-of-the-moment survey, caught the glint of a white fossilized bone out of the corner of his eye and recognized it as hominin. Forty percent of the skeleton was eventually recovered and was later described as the first known member of ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ...
''. Johanson was astonished to find so much of her skeleton all at once. Pamela Alderman, a member of the expedition, suggested she be named "Lucy" after the Beatles' song "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnersh ...
," which was played repeatedly during the night of the discovery.
A
bipedal hominin, Lucy stood about three and a half feet tall; her bipedalism supported Raymond Dart's theory that
australopithecines walked upright. The whole team including Johanson concluded from Lucy's rib that
she ate a plant-based diet and from her curved finger bones that she was probably still at home in trees. They did not immediately see Lucy as a separate species, but considered her an older member of ''
Australopithecus africanus
''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfonte ...
''. The subsequent discovery of several more skulls of similar morphology persuaded most palaeontologists to classify her as a species called ''afarensis''.
Johanson and Maitland A. Edey won a 1982 U.S.
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
in Science[This was the 1982 award for paperback Science.]
From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and multiple nonfiction subcategories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints of books eligible for previous awards but the 1982 Science was original, ''Taking the Quantum Leap'' by Fred Alan Wolf
Fred Alan Wolf (born December 3, 1934) is an American theoretical physicist specializing in quantum physics and the relationship between physics and consciousness. He is a former physics professor at San Diego State University, and has helped to p ...
. for the first popular book about this work, ''Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind''.
["National Book Awards – 1981"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
"First Family"
AL 333
AL 333, commonly referred to as the "First Family", is a collection of prehistoric hominid teeth and bones. Discovered in 1975 by Donald Johanson's team in Hadar, Ethiopia, the "First Family" is estimated to be about 3.2 million years old, and con ...
, commonly referred to as the "First Family", is a collection of prehistoric homininid teeth and bones of at least thirteen individuals that were also discovered in Hadar by Johanson's team in 1975. Generally thought to be members of the species ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ...
,'' the fossils are estimated to be about 3.2 million years old.
Awards and honors
* In 1976, Johanson received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
.
* In 1991, the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) awarded Johanson their highest honor, the ''In Praise of Reason'' award.
* On October 19, 2014, Johanson gave the second annual
Patrusky Lecture The Patrusky lecture series is held by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) in honor of Ben Patrusky, who retired from CASW in 2013 after 25 years as the executive director of CASW and 30 years as the director of the New Horizon ...
.
* On October 24, 2014, Johanson accepted the "Emperor Has No Clothes" award at the
Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization, which advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of many ...
37th annual convention.
* Asteroid
52246 Donaldjohanson, a target of the
''Lucy'' mission was named in his honor.
The official was published by the
Minor Planet Center on December 25, 2015 ().
Other activities
Since 2013, Johanson has been listed on the Advisory Council of the
National Center for Science Education.
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Yves Coppens
Yves Coppens (9 August 1934 – 22 June 2022) was a French anthropologist. A graduate from the University of Rennes and Sorbonne, he studied ancient hominids and had multiple published works on this topic, and also produced a film. In October ...
*
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ...
*
''Dawn of Humanity'' (2015 PBS film)
*
List of fossil sites
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of t ...
''(with link directory)''
*
List of hominina (hominin) fossils ''(with images)''
*
Multi-regional origin
*
Single-origin hypothesis
In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominant model of the ...
Notes
References
External links
Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University*
In Search of Human Origins– PBS
Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins– Video
NPR. ''Science Friday''. "Human Origins"– May 9, 1997 interview with Johanson.
NPR. ''Science Friday''. "Lucy's Relative"– December 1, 2006 interview with Johanson.
NPR. ''Science Friday''. "Lucy's Legacy"– March 6, 2009 interview with Johanson.
by Donald Johanson
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johanson, Donald
1943 births
20th-century atheists
21st-century atheists
American anthropologists
American anthropology writers
American atheists
American male non-fiction writers
Anthropology educators
Human evolution theorists
Arizona State University faculty
National Book Award winners
Paleoanthropologists
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Living people
American people of Swedish descent