TTE 01 Donald Johanson
A conversation with Professor Donald Johanson, discoverer of the Lucy skeleton in 1974 in the remote Ethiopian desert of Afar. Lucy was a 3.2 million year-old hominid who was the first discovery of her species, a bipedal ape and, according to some theories, a direct ancestor of human beings. Lucy herself has courted controversy and fuelled lots of theories and counter-theories about Human Origins. Johanson published a book on his discovery called Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind and has been a prolific science communicator as an author, on television, radio and the digital domain aswell. He has received numerous awards including the Committee for Skeptical Enquiry’s In Praise of Reason Award in 1991 and the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award in 1976. He is currently Founding Director and Chair of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. A prominent atheist and lecturer, Johanson is an interesting scientist, a great communicator and a generous educator.