Donald Johanson

And what I wanted to do was, I wanted to explore problems and areas where we didn't have answers. In fact, where we didn't even know the right questions to ask. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#areas #ask #even #explore #fact

As an undergraduate, I had an opportunity to go on a number of archeological digs. So I had experience excavating, digging up remains of ancient Indian villages in the Midwest and in the Southwest. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#archeological #digging #digs #experience #go

But what really excited me was the idea that humans had a tremendous pre-history that went back millions of years. I wanted to go to Africa to find some of these creatures. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#back #creatures #excited #find #go

I realized immediately that this was a terribly important discovery, but I didn't realize how important it would be until we had spent a lot of time in the laboratory studying it. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#had #how #i #immediately #important

I think that many of my ideas are correct, but I'll bet you, before my death other discoveries will be made that will prompt me to alter various ideas I have about human evolution. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#alter #before #bet #correct #death

I was aware of it, but I grew up in a very a-religious family. My mother never went to church, she never had any religious training or background. It was never a part of our social interaction. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#aware #background #church #family #grew

I was very intellectually oriented, very early on. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#i #intellectually #oriented #very

In our case, finding a Lucy is unique. No one will ever find another Lucy. You can't order one from a biological supply house. It's a unique discovery, a unique specimen. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#biological #case #discovery #ever #find

Lucy brought with her an image of our human ancestors that you don't get when you find a jaw or an arm bone or a leg bone. Here was 40 percent of a single skeleton. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#arm #bone #brought #find #get

Most achievers I know are people who have made a strong and deep dedication to pursuing a particular goal. That dedication took a tremendous amount of effort. ↗

— Donald Johanson

#amount #dedication #deep #effort #goal