Donald Carl Johanson (born June 28, 1943) is an American paleoanthropologist known for his discovery of the skeleton of a 3.18 million year old female hominid, currently considered a species of australopithecine, in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia while on an anthropological mission funded in part by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, of which he was the curator. The skeleton was found on November 24, 1974 and was dubbed "Lucy". Lucy was remarkably complete, with a large number of bones preserved. Dr. Johanson established the Institute of Human Origins, in Berkeley, California in 1981. Johanson and the Institute moved to Arizona State University in 1998. He died on April 21, 2001. (Some entries on this page have been duplicated on August 1. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... Paleoanthropology is the branch of physical anthropology that focuses on the study of human evolution, tracing the anatomic and genetic linkages of pre-humans from millions of years ago, up to modern times. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Lufengpithecus (extinct) Ankarapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Dryopithecus (extinct) Ouranopithecus (extinct) Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Orrorin (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae... This term australopithecine refers to two very closely related hominin genera: Australopithecus Paranthropus When used alone, the term refers to both genera together. ... MODIS satellite image of the Afar Depression and surrounding regions of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabia, and the Horn of Africa. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, humane) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland, Ohio in University Circle, a 500 acre (2 km²) concentration of educational, cultural and medical institutions. ... A curator of a cultural heritage institution (e. ... November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... Binomial name Australopithecus afarensis Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is a hominid which lived between 3. ... Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, in the United States. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arizona State University (ASU) is currently (as of Fall 2005) the largest university, in terms of student enrollment, in the United States with a main campus student body of 51,612. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Bibliography

• Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey, "Lucy: The Beginnings of Human Evolution", Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, 1981 ISBN 0671250361
• Donald Johanson and James Shreeve, "Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor", Viking, London, England, 1989, ISBN 0670833665
• Donald Johanson and Blake Edgar, "From Lucy to Language", Siemens & Schuster, 1996, ISBN 0684810239

See also

• Multi-regional origin

The multiregional origin hypothesis of human origins holds that some, or all, of the genetic variation between the contemporary human races is attributable to genetic inheritance from hominid species, or subspecies, that were geographically dispersed throughout Asia, and possibly Europe and Australasia, prior to the evolution of modern Homo sapiens...

External links

• Bio: Dr. Donald C. Johanson
• Donald Johanson. Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa? (2001)