When the first fossils began to be found in eastern Africa, in the late 1950s, I thought, what a wonderful marriage this was, biology and anthropology. I was around 16 years old when I made this particular choice of academic pursuit.

Generally thought to be members of the species Australopithecus afarensis they are estimated to be about 3. Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. S.

Along with Maurice Taieb and Yves Coppens he is known for discovering the fossil of a female hominid australopithecine known as "Lucy" in the Afar Triangle region of Hadar Ethiopia.