Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind

Author Bio: Donald C. Johanson

Donald Johanson discovered the famous 3.2 million-year-old skeleton named Lucy in 1974 in a remote region of Ethiopia known as Hadar and, with a team of investigators, revised society’s understanding of human evolution. Although dozens of other significant hominid fossils of all ages have been found, Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) continues to be the benchmark to which all discoveries are compared. He is the author of several popular books, including Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind (with Maitland Edey), which won the 1981 American Book Award in Science, and has written or contributed to hundreds of articles. He is a distinguished member of the Siena Academy of Sciences in Italy and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His numerous honors include medals from the Explorers Club and the California Academy of Sciences. He established the renowned Laboratory of Physical Anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Institute of Human Origins, based at Arizona State University, where he serves as the Virginia M. Ullman Chair in Human Origins.