Explorer Lecture: Dr. Donald Johanson, "Cleveland, Lucy, and the Human Story"

Skip the Intro: 11:20
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History was proud to welcome back Dr. Donald Johanson, for our latest Explorer Lecture. Dr. Johanson is Founding Director and Virginia M Ullman Chair in Human Origins at Arizona State University. But, you may know him better as the researcher who discovered the famous, 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis specimen, Lucy, in 1974. At the time, he was studying the origins of humankind as a curator right here at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. On a research expedition to Ethiopia, he unearthed this specimen, which would go on to change our understanding of hominin evolution. Learn more about the ways Dr. Johanson transformed the study of hominin evolution and hear about the fateful day 45 years ago when he discovered Lucy in his presentation: "Cleveland, Lucy, and the Human Story."

[@Greatblue56]

I’ve been following this, studying this, since my NG magazine came in the mail to a 9 year old me so long ago. The amount of discovery, number of specimens, and development of the field has been a love of my life. This talk was extraordinary and wonderful. Thank you.

[@MichelleAnneSkordas]

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx put is

[@Seyfudin]

Should be mandatory curriculum in all US high schools. Excellent material.

[@jemussi7842]

Heaven forbid!

[@jamesschneider2091]

I took Physical Anthropology as an undergraduate elective back around 1980. Australopithecus afarensis and "lucy" was a central subject ... and still is. Dr. Johanson was a pioneer then - and still is. Thanks for the incredibly interesting lecture!

[@johnnyllooddte3415]

lucy is not a human, not a prehuman, she is not a human ancestor.. she is a preape hominin or hominid.. she has nothing to do with humans.. the oldest humans are 15,000 years old by dna

[@naimulhaq9626]

A historic speech about the our evolution of homo sapiens. A great chapter that will be reviewed millions of years later. Thank you Johanson and team.

[@prettyprudent5779]

It’s amazing how Africans can leave the continent and become everyone alive today. Speechless.

[@pcstar123]

Incredible presentation of Dr. Donald Johanson lifelong work spoken with such articulation and passion, very impressive! Sad it only garnered 2,350 views, vs all those thrash with millions and millions of views!

[@TheAndrewWray]

the trash attracts the mindless majority - I feel privileged to have been able to watch - several times - this empowering description of this inspirational exploration of the history of our species

[@stevencoardvenice]

Well, I guess that all the people who care, and who know how to use KZbin, saw it. Academic presentations rarely garner many views on KZbin. KZbin content is mostly for teenagers unfortunately. But there are some amazing lectures, talks and presentations on here. I've seen some very interesting lectures and talks on the Fermi Paradox, SETI, abiogenesis and astrobiology. Definitely recommend talks given by Chris McKay from NASA Ames on the topic of astrobiology. He talks about the difficulty of defining what "life" is, and how astronomers, planetary scientists, geologists, and biologists will be teaming to search for life in our solar system and on exoplanets for the rest of the 21st century. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHmtg4iPoJiWfqc

[@mytwocents848]

I couldn't figure out why anyone would give this a "thumbs down". What's not to like about this fascinating lecture by a wonderful man? Creationists, maybe?

[@cabbking]

Contrary to my preconceptions, this was a delightful and enlightening presentation. Even though I lived through the times of these events as an adult, my acquaintance with the man and chronology and details of this discovery was never integrated as it is now. Thank you.

[@elizabethhobson6958]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@lokmanmerican6889]

Thank you for putting up this wonderful talk by the author of that book I read almost 40 years ago. Time to read it again.

[@stephenmcbeancummings7091]

Humans did evolved. Thank you Lucy.

[@kvrijt]

Great lecture! The other day I stumbled upon Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie's talk which preceded this one in the series Loved it and wanted more and there it was! I puts all the stuff I was following fervently back in the seventies and eighties in such better light. Sobering to think that while Dr. Johanson was making his speech and sternly reminding us that we, despite all, are all part of nature some doctors in China were probably scratching their heads over some weird kind of pneumonia. I truly hope the lecture series won't fall victim to the evolutionary struggle for life and go extinct. It seems the planned follow up lectures on the theme have been cancelled as far as I can see.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Great man!

[@melanieanne2066]

Wonderful lecture! Dr. Johanson is a marvelous educator and what a career he has had. Very impressive, and much gratitude for his decades of hard work. Thank you for sharing this amazing educational lecture.

[@ruththinkingoutside.707]

Love to see him speak!! So excited for a new one!! 😍

[@deeliciousplum]

Priceless and enlightening talk. Dr. Donald Johanson is an inspiring voice during these times of uncertainty. Thank you for making and sharing this video. 💛

[@randysnowberger1591]

Awesome lecture. Very informative from a man who has spent his life doing what he loved. Thank you for having passion in your work to show the evolution of the Homo species. Thank you!!!

[@teaburg]

Wonderful

[@MartyCalabrese]

Absolutely remarkable, top-notch #science!

[@jonni2317]

The name Lucy means light, or bringer of light. It seems like a fitting name when you think about how her discovery shone a light on our past. And I think that is marvelous and/or wonderful.

[@diannamaree7854]

Harvey does like his voice a bit 🤣 Love these presentations. Thank you Dr Johanson

[@geraldinefields1730]

Never knew he was such a witty and engaging speaker.

[@rhondah1587]

I read Lucy back in the 80s and loved, loved, loved it. I also read one of Richard Leakey's books after that. No comparison, Dr. Johanson's book was the best and the easiest to read and understand.

[@debraremillard1843]

The last 3 minutes of his talk, showed the gold of his life of research and his aged mind. Wonderful ending!!!

[@hiberxen8527]

Very Informative

[@claudiosaltara7003]

Extraordinary conclusion.

[@perrywidhalm114]

Excellent video lecture. Thanks for uploading.

[@Rico-Suave_]

Wow standing ovation

[@jonglewongle3438]

They called their discovery " Lucy " because The Beatles' " Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds " was playing on a cassette or gramaphone at the excavation site in the instance of the discovery of the remains. That was the account of how it went, and it would be how something like that would go. It was Lucy in the dirt in pieces but it becomes a celestial beacon of discovery.

[@hammalammadingdong6244]

Jongle Wongle - what would have happened if “Mean Mr. Mustard” had been playing? 😷

[@jonglewongle3438]

@@hammalammadingdong6244 In that instance, that being another instance, it might have been " Shut that idiot garbage off for a sec. I've got something here. ".

[@delbertz.osborne9793]

It appears that the Good Doctor may have some, (Rock & Roll) in his genome. Wouldn't you agree.

[@jonglewongle3438]

@@delbertz.osborne9793 One way or another.

[@b.g.5869]

In a documentary that aired on PBS many years ago, Johanson or someone else in the documentary that was on the expedition suggested that the real reason they called the find "Lucy" was because some team members celebrated the discovery by taking LSD. They may have been listening to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds but the documentary left the impression that the "We were listening to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds!" narrative is the rated G explanation but in reality they were tripping.

[@Rico-Suave_]

Amazing lecture

[@rameyzamora1018]

Dr Johanson starts at 10:15 in the video.

[@donaldedward4951]

Thank you very much for that. Much appreciated.

[@kvrijt]

@@donaldedward4951 You could also have read the intro :-) It starts with: "Skip the Intro: 10:20"

[@himssendol6512]

More like 10:50

[@jurgenczwienk1960]

What a joy!!!

[@stevebutrimas9972]

Great

[@MichaelJohnson-fe8tm]

Cut to 10:56. Longest commercial plug and intro I have ever seen. Also had Physical and Cultural Anthropology as undergraduate electives during an engineering major.

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

Cleveland Museum of Natural History is one of my favorite places in Cleveland.

[@delbertz.osborne9793]

Never been there. But now it's on my list of thing's I've got too do.

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

@@delbertz.osborne9793 highly recommend. It's very impressive.

[@earthlingsunited2663]

Always spellbound by this man!

[@tramainecbaynes1364]

Cool video.

[@larryparis925]

Date recorded?

[@rameyzamora1018]

Oct 25, 2019 per Google.

[@himssendol6512]

@@rameyzamora1018 Thanks!

[@meldidnot]

I feel a need to add illustration by Charls Shultz of Lucy holding a football. In view of recent DNA and genetic improvements and discoveries.

[@karolusnaga]

where Flash hide the bones then?

[@TornadoGeorge]

yo anthropologist are funny people such a great speaker

[@T.J-and-Soul]

I think this mass death was a troop seeking shelter from a grass fire and died of smoke inhalation hiding in the creek bed.

[@thatkidwholovesfighting7638]

noice

[@stupidas9466]

I'm not fascinated by our oranges! Oh, origins, never mind. Carry on...

[@scienceexplains302]

How do they know they all died there? Maybe the living dumped all their deceased in one place.

[@TheAndrewWray]

very unlikely from what we know of what it was to be living " in the wild " as they were then

[@scienceexplains302]

@@TheAndrewWray Makes sense. The oldest known burials occurred at least 136,000 years after that group of Naledi lived

[@XX-qi5eu]

Life is a-Lucy-Nation.

[@dennisweidner288]

Why are there so many hominid discoveries in the Great Rift Vallery? Was it a particularly desirable place for Hominids or has the expanding rift opened up long buries remains? Or is something else at play?

[@DAVIDPETERS12C]

because that's where the paleontologists are. : ) actually there are discoveries from all over the Eastern Hemisphere.

[@dennisweidner288]

@@DAVIDPETERS12C That is circular logic. Of course, that is where paleobiologists have focused their research, but it is because they believe that this is the area where discoveries are most likely.

[@vesuvandoppelganger]

It's difficult for people to accept the fact that humans were popped into existence by a genius.

[@thedarquibus]

Lol, yea sure, keep thinking that.

[@vesuvandoppelganger]

I will because it is a fact that humans were created by an unobservable genius.

[@Alexander711]

@@vesuvandoppelganger you mean like a ghost?

[@delbertz.osborne9793]

The planet is about 4 1/2 billion years old. Life started in the what is called the, Cambrian Explosion about 54 million years ago. That's quite a gap in Geological Time. And in a few short years we went from hunter gathering, too farming and high tech. What do you make of it.

[@ScottyMcYachty]

If I understand it correctly, most evolutionary biologists place the Cambrian period at around 500 million years ago... not 54. 👍

[@billybussey]

He loves himself

[@robp4125]

Can. Exc AC/DC Soc we de ccs. Schh

[@raccoonresident5760]

Sounds like a record relationship....lol is he saying Lucy was his oldest girlfriend?..

[@b.g.5869]

Stranger: "You're famous!" Johanson: "Yes." Johanson: "Here is a picture of me in Sweden. A great moment in history." Johanson: "My book is considered a classic." Dude has serious ego issues.

[@Alexander711]

He's a realist. His book is considered a classic in the field. And outside for that matter. And it was a great moment in history. Not for him, but for human history. And yes, he is famous. That's a fact.

[@b.g.5869]

@@Alexander711 Way to miss the point. I'm not arguing that he isn't famous or that his book isn't considered a classic etc. The point isn't that what he's saying isn't true, it's that the way he described these things was obnoxiously self congratulatory. He could have provided the same information in a way that didn't sound so self absorbed. Also, the discovery of Lucy was a great moment in history as well as for him personally. His getting the Nobel Prize wasn't a great moment in history; it was strictly a great moment for him.

[@bigtablepublishingcompany4143]

@@b.g.5869 Might help if you paid attention. He never won a Nobel Prize and never said he did.

[@TomCook-jw6ur]

Longwinded bullshit introduction.

[@jemussi7842]

Very nostalgic. However, nostalgia and consensus does not equate to science. A cult of over enthusiastic hippies under financial pressure finds a few old bone fragments and claim it's a new species..Ridiculous and tragic. It provided them with lucrative and distinguished careers though.

[@perrywidhalm114]

?

[@jemussi7842]

@@perrywidhalm114 Care to put together a coherent comment instead of childishly posting just a question mark?

[@donaldedward4951]

Come on Doc. get to it. After that L-O-O-N-G INTRO get to it.

[@AproposOfWetSnow]

I am stopping 7 minutes in. Why does somebody who discovers Lucy deserve the long lecture? From learning perspective. Or is this just an interesting story lecture.

[@nahshon9998]

If this is true why start the video with a lie? The lie is showing apes walking around upright when they could not do that. Why not show them carrying brief cases and wearing clothes while you at it? These two apes are shown standing with very good human posture, nicely groomed, looking into the distance. And with such an all knowing look to them. Probably thinking about their next invention. What a crock! Apes didn't then and don't now walk about on two legs with such a posture. Some can walk on two legs, but not with nice straight backs and legs. Clint Eastwood got an orangatan to walk on two legs for a movie. In clothes too! This is just propaganda. When they have to give a faked pictures to back up their assertions it is time to change the channel.

[@clevelandmuseumofnaturalhi8806]

Hello nahshon - We encourage you to watch the full video! The graphic used at the beginning certainly are not portraying "apes," but early human ancestors who did walk upright.

[@nahshon9998]

@@clevelandmuseumofnaturalhi8806 The graphic at the beginning is deliberately misleading. It makes apes look like humans with human postures and with an intelligent look in their eyes. Put them in a suit next time. You guys do this all the time. You mislead the watcher of the video then claim innocence when caught. So have you seen early humans and how they walked? No you haven't. It is not even science but a theory because you have no observable and testable science to back it up. It is your belief when you claim that early humans looked like what you portray them as. You claim something that you believe. That isn't science. You believe they looked just like apes but walked just like humans. So just say so. And Lucy, as some evidence shows, fell out of a tree from an estimated 35 feet and died. Lucy was an ape, a tree dwelling ape. BTW, do you still have your land animal to whale exhibit up?

[@Alexander711]

@@nahshon9998 what are your credentials on the subject if I may ask. I expect you base yourself on something?

[@vinnygi]

So what is your explanation for how we got here?

[@nahshon9998]

@@Alexander711 Lucy was an ape. That is why she fell out of a tree and died. There are no transitional ape to human fossils because humans have always been humans and apes have always been apes. Ape to human is a belief, it is not science. It is a worldview that demands there be no God. An old Earth is another belief that cannot be supported. That life came from non-life magically is another belief not based on science. Ape to human evolution is all based on assumptions. There is no creator God and the Universe is old. Both are beliefs. You can believe what you like but it isn't science. Just what ever happened to the Piltdown man hoax? Evolution seems to be one fake after another. Like the mammal to whale evolution story that has fallen apart. And so many other hoaxes. I just don't buy it. Do you?

[@delbertz.osborne9793]

I believe the Good Doctor stopped short of exposing of what appears today to be fact. Homosapian had outside intervention in the evolution of today's Man/Woman) Which would account for the giant leap forward in agriculture, and technology. Today's smartest men and wemen in their fields of expertise still marvel at how cultures thousands of miles apart could basically be doing the same thing. Describing same experiences of other visitors that came from above. It's a lot to wrap ones head around. Don't you think 🤔

[@thedarquibus]

You and alot of eejits think that perhaps.

[@tillymynt9054]

No I don’t think so

[@robp4125]

HB No

[@artonereason]

Darwin evolution wrong!!

[@thedarquibus]

Lmao, right cause you and the fools say so.

[@artonereason]

@@thedarquibus because his theory has been proven wrong by science

[@artonereason]

Yes science is proving evolution is a hoax. Learn history

[@artonereason]

@@NilsExp nope real science not Darwinian speculation

[@Alexander711]

@@artonereason Bring evidence for your claims please. Quite a bold statement to make without evidence. And don't see "search for yourself". You've based yourself on a source. Give me that source.

[@Greenie-43x]

27:40 I wondered if this was really how we verified Paleoanthropological specimens... So I checked. Yep, the entire occupation is based on the presupposition of Darwinism. I expected more.

[@jbyrd655]

And you're here why, exactly? Suggest you quit using any modern medicine, because it is all dependent on understanding the facts of evolutionary theory. Go back to whatever rock you crawled from under. Or get an education and come back when you have an argument.

[@Greenie-43x]

@@jbyrd655 Please give me an example of a modern medical innovation that could ONLY have been invented using the Darwinian belief of evolution. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin without evolution principles. Howard Florey and Ernst Chain shared the Nobel Prize for purifying penicillin for medicine. Fleming said he felt like a pawn "being moved on the board of life by some superior power." While Chain criticized Darwin's entire theory as "a hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts" he has more criticisms than that. Selman Waksman and his research assistant Albert Schatz discovered Streptomycin, the first antibiotic that could treat Tuberculosis. Waksman insisted that he saw no role for evolution in the discovery. He wrote, applying Darwinian assumptions in his work was "totally unjustified." Philip Skell wrote "My own research with antibiotics during world war II recieved no guidance from insights provided by Darwinian evolution." He asked 70 of his associates if they would have done anything differently if they had thought Darwins theory was wrong. They all said no. Skell concluded that "Darwin's theory had provided no discernable guidance" James Tour, awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Centenary Prize for innovations in materials Chemistry with applications in Medicine and Nanotechnology (and Many other awards), is a creationist that doesn't use the Darwinian hypothesis. Seriously long list of other awards, check wiki. Dr Robert Stadler earned his PhD in Medical engineering from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. I recently read his book The Scientific Approach to Evolution: What They Didn't Teach You In Biology. He provides a fantastic look at the limits of evolution and how Macro evolution has been extended beyond the limits of evidence. The MRI inventor Raymond Damadian, is a young Earth creationist that uses zero Darwinian evolution. The entire Network of Hospitals from the Seventh Day Adventists are practicing medicine without Darwin's theory. The statement that "Nothing in Biology makes sense except in light of evolution" has been around for 2 score and 7 years but it doesn't make it accurate. But at least Dobzansky gave us the terms micro and macro evolution. In my family alone we have one Medical doctor, four Registered Nurses, one Medical assistant and RIP my Father was a Clinical and Analytical Chemist. None of which use or involve evolution when treating patients or studying samples. So again I ask you one question. What is one medical innovation that could only have been developed by using the Darwinian theory of evolution? I really am trying to "get an education". That's why I've been reading and researching things, maybe to a point of obsession. I would suggest the Rob Stadler book and Jonathan Wells' Zombie Science book. Videos are great too, but the books get more in depth. Lastly, since you used Dobzanski as your inspiration, I'd like to give you another statement of his own. "There is no way toward an understanding of the mechanisms of macroevolutionary changes, which require time on a geological scale, other than through a full comprehension of the micro evolutionary processes observable within the span of a human lifetime. For this reason we are compelled at the present level of knowledge reluctantly to put a sign of equality between the mechanisms of micro and macroevolution and proceeding on this assumption, to push our investigation as far ahead as the working hypothesis will permit." "Reluctantly" because Dobzanski noted there was no hard evidence connecting small changes, to large scale changes suggested in the fossil record. Thanks for posting .

[@Greenie-43x]

Correction: Dobzhansky Sorry Theo

[@jbyrd655]

@@Greenie-43x Arguments from authority prove only that you have no argument...and apparently little or no understanding of my point, phrased exactly ("it is all dependent") to elicit a truer response from you. Modern medicine works because it relies on processes that can only be understood in the light of evolutionary theory, cherry- picked anecdotal opinion notwithstanding. Reading and researching is useless without understanding. Nowhere in Dobzhansky's (who died in 1975, well before we had our current understanding of both Darwinian and genetic theory) quote is it implied that, as you appear to think, 'macroevolution' is somehow less valid than 'microevolution'. His 'reluctance' seems based on scientific rigor, where ignorance prevented him from stating what he likely thought true (though I won't presume to put words into his mouth). The statement "There is no way toward an understanding of the mechanisms of macroevolutionary changes, which require time on a geological scale, other than through a full comprehension of the micro evolutionary processes observable within the span of a human lifetime." only confirms that he felt both 'micro' and 'macro' evolution are really the same thing, just on different time scales, a concept definitely at odds with young earth creationism. There is plenty of "hard evidence"; archeological, anthropological, genetic and biological, not only connecting but directly illustrating how 'small changes' on the human time scale directly result in massive changes on a geological tiime scale. It is impossible to properly understand evolutionary theory with out having a broad (hough perhaps for most, by neccessity, a relatively shallow) understanding of, at least, evolution, biology, cosmology, geology, math, logic and philosophy (in no particular order).

[@Greenie-43x]

@@jbyrd655 So no answer, just reasserting what you already wrote. Feel free to believe that statement, but unless you can articulate a reason, it's just an empty claim. I'll ask one more time. Can you give me an example of a medical innovation that could Only have come about through a Darwinian belief of universal common descent? .

[@blaberus1]

A modest man - not!