JOHN Robinson, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison zoology professor who uncovered fossils providing evidence of humans’ primitive beginnings, died last Friday. He was 78. Robinson was a native of South Africa who spent decades in the country’s Transvaal region uncovering hundreds of fossils that helped pinpoint and date the origin of the human race. Along with his mentor, Robert Broom, Robinson discovered specimens of early human ancestors more than 2-million years old. Robinson’s findings were instrumental in establishing the earliest beginnings of humans and the nature of our ancestors, said Karen Steudel, a former student. – Sapa