Former director of the Musée de l’Homme and professor emeritus at the Collège de France, YvesCoppensdied on Wednesday at the age of 87.

Yves Coppens at his home in Paris in December 2016. LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP

The French paleontologist Yves Coppens, the co-discoverer of Lucy, died Wednesday, June 22, at the age of 87, announced his publisher Odile Jacob.

"Yves Coppens left us this morning... Yves Coppens was a very great scientist, a world-renowned paleontologist, a member of countless foreign institutions, but above all a professor at the Collège de France and a member of the Académie des sciences [Academy of Sciences]," tweeted Ms. Jacob, the woman who edited many of his books.

The scientist died after a long illness, his publisher told Agence France Presse.

#Yves Coppens nous a quittés ce matin. Ma tristesse est immense. Yves Coppens était un très grand savant, paléonto… https://t.co/gQbLVu4Ncb

— EditriceOJacob (@Odile Jacob)

Yves Coppens was born in Vannes (Morbihan) on August 9, 1934. He joined the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS, National Center for Scientific Research) in 1956 to work on vertebrate paleontology. From 1960 onwards, he carried out research on the Menalla site. In 1961, he discovered his first hominid, Tchadanthropus uxoris (1 million years old). It was on this site that Michel Brunet (University of Poitiers, CNRS) discovered, 40 years later, the skull of Toumaï, a 7-million-year-old prehuman. This discovery of Tchadanthropus uxoris sealed Mr. Coppens' entry into the world of the media. In 1963, the Fondation de la vocation prize, awarded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, opened the doors of Publicis, which welcomed him to present his work to the press.

Co-discovery of Lucy in 1974

In 1969, he was appointed to the sub-direction of the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man). He became director in 1980, at the same time as he became the chair of anthropology at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (National Museum of Natural History). In the meantime, he went to the Omo River Valley in Ethiopia, a major site for the discovery of hominids and ancient fauna. At the request of Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, British paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey organized an international expedition in which Mr. Coppens participated. He brought to light Australopithecus aethiopicus (2.5 million years old). Then the French scientist shifted to Afar, in the east of Ethiopia.

It was then in 1974 that he discovered Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) with Maurice Taïeb and Don Johannson (USA). The 52 bones of Lucy (a human skeleton has 206) allowed scientists to reconstitute its weight, age and locomotion, and to discover that prehumans walked and climbed trees.

In 1983, Mr. Coppens became the holder of the chair of paleoanthropology and prehistory at the Collège de France. Two years later, he was elected a member of the Académie des sciences (Academy of Sciences).

Biography

1934 Born in Vannes.

1974 Discovery of Lucy.

1980 Director of the Musée de l’Homme. Professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

1983 Professor at the Collège de France.

2004 Scientific advisor on the film Homo sapiens.

2022 Died at 87

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