Lucy

Name given to a skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in 1974 by Donald Johansen and Tom Gray in the Afar Valley of Ethiopia. "Its age is about 3.2 million years. Lucy was an adult female of about 25 years. About 40% of her skeleton was found, and her pelvis, femur (the upper leg bone) and tibia show her to have been bipedal. She was about 107 cm (3'6") tall (small for her species) and about 28 kg (62 lbs) in weight." (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/specimen.html)

I learned yesterday that some of the bodegas (little deli-beer-cigarette shops) in Brooklyn sell "Lucys", which are single (loose) cigarettes. I found this out when my friends and I were stopped by an underage girl who wanted one of us to go into the bodega for her and buy her a Lucy. We had no clue what she was talking about, but we finally figured it out, and I went in to get her one. The man behind the counter had several packs open, and I asked for one Newport (her desired brand). He handed me the cigarette and took 40 cents of the girl's money, and I walked out. She took the change and the cigarette and seemed satisfied. She thanked me and walked off. I would think that no one would pay 40 cents for one cigarette, but I guess there are people that desperate. Go lucy.

In November 1974, an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, approximately 40 percent complete, was found in what Glynn Isaac called the East African Klondike. The skeleton was by far the most intact that had been unearthed, so it was a major discovery. Donald Johanson and Tomm Gray, who discovered it, were celebrating late into the night.

Johanson later said, "There was a tape recorder in the camp, and a tape of the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" went bellowing out into the night sky, and was played at full volume over and over again out of sheer exuberance."

That skeleton has been known as Lucy ever since.

Because Lucy's skeleton is so complete, scientists were able to discern much more about the appearance and habits of A. afarensis than had yet been determined. Although clearly bipedal, Lucy would have resembled an ape in many respects: her arms hung past her knees, and her face was more ape-shaped as well, with a correspondingly smaller cranial capacity.

Information taken from "The Chosen Primate" by Adam Kuper.