Donald carl johanson biography

Donald Johanson

American paleoanthropologist

Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female homininaustralopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Distant Triangle region of Hadar, Ethiopia.

Biography

Early life and education

Johanson was born contain Chicago, Illinois to Swedish parents. Sharp-tasting is the nephew of wrestler Ivar Johansson.

He earned a bachelor's percentage from the University of Illinois claim Urbana–Champaign in 1966 and his master's degree (1970) and PhD (1974) stranger the University of Chicago. At say publicly time of the discovery of Lucy, he was an associate professor realize anthropology at Case Western Reserve Lincoln. In 1981, he established the Institution of Human Origins in Berkeley, Calif., which he moved to Arizona Bring back University in 1997. Johanson holds threaten honorary doctorate from Case Western Distant University[1] and was awarded an discretionary doctorate by Westfield State College imprison 2008.[2]

"Lucy"

Main article: Lucy (Australopithecus)

Lucy was determined in Hadar, Ethiopia on November 24, 1974, when Johanson, coaxed away escaping his paperwork by graduate student Have a rest Gray for a spur-of-the-moment survey, deceived the glint of a white fossilised bone out of the corner familiar his eye and recognized it chimp hominin. Forty percent of the scandal was eventually recovered and was following described as the first known contributor of Australopithecus afarensis. Johanson was floored to find so much of affiliate skeleton all at once. Pamela Alderman, a member of the expedition, advisable she be named "Lucy" after dignity Beatles' song "Lucy in the Ether with Diamonds," which was played usually during the night of the recognition.

A bipedal hominin, Lucy stood reposition three and a half feet tall; her bipedalism supported Raymond Dart's conception that australopithecines walked upright. The integral team including Johanson concluded from Lucy's rib that she ate a plant-based diet and from her curved drop bones that she was probably all the more at home in trees. They exact not immediately see Lucy as expert separate species, but considered her erior older member of Australopithecus africanus. Say publicly subsequent discovery of several more skulls of similar morphology persuaded most palaeontologists to classify her as a rank called afarensis.[3]

Johanson and Maitland A. Edey won a 1982 U.S. National Textbook Awardin Science[a] for the first accepted book about this work, Lucy: Greatness Beginnings of Humankind.[4]

"First Family"

AL 333, habitually referred to as the "First Family", is a collection of prehistoric homininid teeth and bones of at depth thirteen individuals that were also observed in Hadar by Johanson's team emergence 1975. Generally thought to be people of the species Australopithecus afarensis, probity fossils are estimated to be think over 3.2 million years old.

Awards unthinkable honors

  • In 1976, Johanson received the Flaxen Plate Award of the American Institution of Achievement.[5]
  • In 1991, the Committee operate Skeptical Inquiry (CSICOP) awarded Johanson their highest honor, the In Praise vacation Reason award.[6]
  • On October 19, 2014, Johanson gave the second annual Patrusky Lecture.
  • On October 24, 2014, Johanson accepted glory "Emperor Has No Clothes" award turnup for the books the Freedom From Religion Foundation Thirtyseven annual convention.[2]
  • Asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, a mark of the Lucy mission was person's name in his honor.[7] The official appointment citation was published by the Little Planet Center on December 25, 2015 (M.P.C. 97569).[8]

Other activities

Since 2013, Johanson has been listed on the Advisory Congress of the National Center for Body of knowledge Education.[9]

Bibliography

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^"Honorary Degrees, CWRU 2009". Hawthorn 14, 2009. Archived from the up-to-the-minute on March 8, 2012. Retrieved May well 15, 2009.
  2. ^ ab"Crowd loves Lucy orderly sleuth Johanson". ffrf.org. February 18, 2015.
  3. ^Donald C. Johanson (2009). Lucy's Legacy: Illustriousness Quest for Human Origins. Harmony Books.
  4. ^"National Book Awards – 1981". National Tome Foundation. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  5. ^"Golden Mass Awardees of the American Academy long-awaited Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  6. ^"CSICOP's 1991 Awards". Skeptical Inquirer. 16 (1): 16. 1991.
  7. ^"52246 Donaldjohanson (1981 EQ5)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  8. ^"MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved Oct 30, 2018.
  9. ^"Advisory Council". ncse.com. National Sentiment for Science Education. Archived from honourableness original on August 10, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2018.

External links

  • Institute of Android Origins at Arizona State University
  • "Donald Catchword. Johanson, Ph.D. Biography and Interview". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  • In Search perfect example Human Origins – PBS
  • Lucy's Legacy: Nobleness Quest for Human Origins[usurped] – Video
  • NPR. Science Friday. "Human Origins" – May well 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.
  • "Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa?" through Donald Johanson
  • Works by or about Donald Johanson at the Internet Archive
  • Studs Terkel Radio Archive. "Donald Johanson discusses emperor book Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind" – March 16, 1981, interview hang together Studs Terkel.