About Donald Johanson

Donald Johanson was born in Chicago, Illinois to Swedish parents. He is the nephew of 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[1] and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Westfield State College in 2008. He is an atheist.