Editing Donald Johanson

{{short description|American paleoanthropologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name        = Donald Johanson
| image       = Donald Johanson (1).jpg
| birth_name  = Donald Carl Johanson
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1943|06|28}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
| field       = [[Paleoanthropology]]
| workplaces  = [[Arizona State University]]
| alma_mater  = [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]]<br />[[University of Chicago]]
| known_for   = Discovery of a new hominid, ''[[Australopithecus afarensis]]'' ("[[Lucy (Australopithecus)|Lucy]]")
}}
{{for|the asteroid named after Donald Johanson|52246 Donaldjohanson}}

'''Donald Carl Johanson''' (born June 28, 1943) is an American [[paleoanthropologist]]. He is best known for discovering the fossil of a female [[hominin]] [[australopithecine]] known as "[[Lucy (Australopithecus)|Lucy]]" in the [[Afar Triangle]] region of [[Hadar, Ethiopia]].

== Biography ==

=== Early life and education ===
Johanson was born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] to Swedish parents. He is the nephew of wrestler [[Ivar Johansson (wrestler)|Ivar Johansson]].

He earned a [[bachelor's degree]] from the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] in 1966 and his [[master's degree]] (1970) and [[PhD]] (1974) from the [[University of Chicago]]. 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]] in [[Berkeley, California]], which he moved to [[Arizona State University]] in 1997. Johanson holds an honorary doctorate from [[Case Western Reserve University]]<ref name="Honorary Doctorate">{{cite web |url=http://blog.case.edu/case-news/2009/05/14/honorarydegrees2009 |title=Honorary Degrees, CWRU 2009 |date=May 14, 2009 |access-date=May 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308072852/http://blog.case.edu/case-news/2009/05/14/honorarydegrees2009 |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was awarded an honorary doctorate by [[Westfield State University|Westfield State College]] in 2008.<ref name="ffrf">{{cite web |url=http://ffrf.org/publications/freethought-today/item/22417-crowd-loves-lucy-scientific-sleuth-johanson |title=Crowd loves Lucy scientific sleuth Johanson |work=ffrf.org|date=February 18, 2015 }}</ref>

=== "Lucy" ===
{{Main|Lucy (Australopithecus)}}
Lucy was discovered in [[Hadar, Ethiopia]] on November 24, 1974, when Johanson, coaxed away from his paperwork by graduate student [[Tom Gray (archaeologist)|Tom Gray]] 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]]''. 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]]," which was played repeatedly during the night of the discovery.

A [[Bipedalism#Evolution of human bipedalism|bipedal hominin]], Lucy stood about three and a half feet tall; her bipedalism supported Raymond Dart's theory that [[Australopithecus|australopithecines]] walked upright. The whole team including Johanson concluded from Lucy's rib  that [[Lucy (Australopithecus)#Rib cage and plant-based diet|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]]''. The subsequent discovery of several more skulls of similar morphology persuaded most palaeontologists to classify her as a species called ''afarensis''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Donald C. Johanson |title=Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins |year=2009 |publisher=Harmony Books}}</ref>

Johanson and Maitland A. Edey won a 1982 U.S. [[National Book Award]] [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Science|in Science]]<ref group=lower-alpha>This was the 1982 [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Science|award for paperback Science]].<br />From 1980 to 1983 in [[National Book Awards#History|National Book Awards history]] there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and [[National Book Award for Nonfiction#nonfiction categories|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]].</ref> for the first popular book about this work, ''Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind''.<ref name=nba1981>[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1981 "National Book Awards – 1981"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 7, 2012.</ref>

=== "First Family" ===

[[AL 333]], 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]],'' 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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://www.achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
* In 1991, the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (CSICOP) awarded Johanson their highest honor, the ''In Praise of Reason'' award.<ref name="1991 Awards">{{cite journal |title=CSICOP's 1991 Awards |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=1991 |volume=16 |issue=1 |page=16}}</ref>
* On October 19, 2014, Johanson gave the second annual [[Patrusky Lecture]].
* On October 24, 2014, Johanson accepted the "Emperor Has No Clothes" award at the [[Freedom From Religion Foundation]] 37th annual convention.<ref name="ffrf" />
* Asteroid [[52246 Donaldjohanson]], a target of the [[Lucy (spacecraft)|''Lucy'' mission]] was named in his honor.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The official {{MoMP|52246|naming citation}} was published by the [[Minor Planet Center]] on December 25, 2015 ({{small|[[Minor Planet Circulars|M.P.C.]] 97569}}).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />

=== Other activities ===

Since 2013, Johanson has been listed on the Advisory Council of the [[National Center for Science Education]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ncse.com/about/advisory-council |title=Advisory Council |website=ncse.com |publisher=[[National Center for Science Education]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810112828/https://ncse.com/about/advisory-council |archive-date=August 10, 2013 |access-date=October 30, 2018}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last=Johanson |first=Donald |author2=Maitland Edey |year=1981 |title=Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgGNlFMM5XQC&pg=PA |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-671-25036-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Johanson |first=Donald |author2=James Shreeve |year=1989 |title=Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor |location=London |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-83366-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Johanson |first=Donald |author2=Blake Edgar |year=1996 |title=From Lucy to Language |url=https://archive.org/details/fromlucytolangua0000joha |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-81023-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Johanson |first=Donald |author2=Giancarlo Ligabue |year=1999 |title=Ecce Homo: Writings in Honour of Third Millennium Man |location=Milan |publisher=Electa |isbn=88-435-7170-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Johanson |first=Donald |author2=Kate Wong |year=2009 |title=Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins |location=New York |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=978-0-307-39639-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/lucyslegacyquest00joha }}

== See also ==
* [[Yves Coppens]]
* [[Australopithecus afarensis]]
* [[Dawn of Humanity|''Dawn of Humanity'' (2015 PBS film)]]
* [[List of fossil sites]] ''(with link directory)''
* [[List of human evolution fossils|List of hominina (hominin) fossils]] ''(with images)''
* [[Multi-regional origin]]
* [[Single-origin hypothesis]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="MPC-object">{{cite web |title=52246 Donaldjohanson (1981 EQ5) |work=Minor Planet Center |url=https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=52246 |access-date=October 30, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive">{{cite web |title=MPC/MPO/MPS Archive |work=Minor Planet Center |url=https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html |access-date=October 30, 2018}}</ref>

}} <!-- end of reflist -->

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://iho.asu.edu/ Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University]
* {{cite web |title=Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D. Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/#interview}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_9_5gxvxg In Search of Human Origins] – PBS
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170211161349/http://library.fora.tv/2011/05/09/Lucys_Legacy_The_Quest_for_Human_Origins Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins]}} – Video
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1010642 NPR. ''Science Friday''. "Human Origins"] – May 9, 1997, interview with Johanson.
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6566270 NPR. ''Science Friday''.  "Lucy's Relative"] – December 1, 2006, interview with Johanson.
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101547347 NPR. ''Science Friday''. "Lucy's Legacy"] – March 6, 2009, interview with Johanson.
* [http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/johanson.html "Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa?"] by Donald Johanson
* {{Internet Archive author |same = Donald Johanson}}
* [https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/donald-johanson-discusses-his-book-lucy-beginnings-humankind Studs Terkel Radio Archive. "Donald Johanson discusses his book ''Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind''"] – March 16, 1981, interview with Studs Terkel.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johanson, Donald}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:20th-century atheists]]
[[Category:21st-century atheists]]
[[Category:American anthropologists]]
[[Category:American anthropology writers]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Anthropology educators]]
[[Category:Human evolution theorists]]
[[Category:Arizona State University faculty]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Paleoanthropologists]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American people of Swedish descent]]