October 26, 2026
Paul Ekman: A Timeline of Achievements
1954
THE RESEARCH BEGINS
Paul Ekman begins his research on facial expression and body movements, including hand gestures.
1958
PAUL BECOMES DR. EKMAN
Dr. Ekman receives his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Adelphi University.
1967
DISCOVERY OF MICRO EXPRESSIONS
Dr. Ekman worked with clinical cases in which patients lied about their emotional state. He studied patients who claimed they were not depressed and later committed suicide. Upon examining films of the patients in slow motion, Dr. Ekman and Dr. Friesen spotted micro facial expressions, which revealed strong negative feelings the patient was trying to hide.
1967-1968
UNIVERSAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Dr. Ekman travels to Papua New Guinea to study the nonverbal behavior of the Fore people. He chose these people as they were an isolated, Stone Age culture located in the South East Highlands. Ekman’s research provided the strongest evidence to date that certain facial expressions are universal.
1972-1978
CODING THE FACE
Dr. Ekman’s findings inspired the development of the Facial Action Coding System. FACS was the first and only comprehensive tool for objectively measuring facial movement. Ekman developed this tool along with W. Friesen in 1978 and later revised it in 2003 with J. Hagar as a third author.
1985
DECEPTION DETECTION
In response to Dr. Ekman’s book, Telling Lies, national and regional law enforcement request his training. Ekman developed in-person workshops for TSA, the CIA, and the FBI.
2000
CULTIVATING EMOTIONAL BALANCE
At the request of the Dalai Lama, Dr. Paul Ekman, Dr. Alan Wallace, Dr. Mark Greenberg, and Dr. Richard Davidson created a secular training program to help people manage destructive emotions and cultivate a wholesome way of being. This training, called Cultivating Emotional Balance, is taught by Dr. Eve Ekman.
2004
PAUL EKMAN GROUP
After retiring from his work as a professor, Ekman’s next goal was to translate his research into helpful resources for the general public. To do so, he formed the Paul Ekman Group (PEG) to provide online training tools.
2007
EMOTIONS REVEALED, 2ND ED.
In this revised printing of Emotions Revealed, Dr. Ekman explains the roots of our emotions―anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and happiness―and shows how they cascade across our faces, providing clear signals to those who can identify the clues. In Emotions Revealed, Ekman distills decades of research into a practical, mind-opening, and life-changing guide to reading the emotions of those around us.
2009
LIE TO ME
Dr. Ekman and his research inspired the award-winning television series Lie to Me. Dr. Ekman also served as a scientific advisor to the show. He analyzed and critiqued each episode’s script and taught the cast and crew about the science of deception detection. Discover the science behind Lie to Me.
2012
DEVELOPING GLOBAL COMPASSION
Dr. Paul Ekman had the opportunity to spend close to 50 hours in one-on-one conversations with the Dalai Lama. During their meeting in New Delhi, India, of January 2012, they spent another six hours discussing compassion; this exchange was recorded and segmented into webisodes for our series called Developing Global Compassion.
2015
INSIDE OUT
Dr. Ekman served as a scientific advisor on the widely popular movie Inside Out which focuses on emotions and family dynamics. This wondrous, funny, beautiful, and groundbreaking film provides a unique view into how parents and children relate. Since emotions can be a difficult subject to talk about, Dr. Ekman created this Parents’ Guide to promote conversations between parents and kids.
2016
ATLAS OF EMOTIONS
The Dalai Lama imagined “a map of our emotions to develop a calm mind.” He asked his longtime friend and renowned emotion scientist Dr. Paul Ekman to realize his idea. Ekman took on the creation of the Atlas alongside his daughter, Dr. Eve Ekman, a second-generation emotion researcher and trainer. The Atlas of Emotions represents what researchers have learned from the psychological study of emotion.
2018
REFLECTING ON LIFE AND LEGACY
Dr. Ekman continued to write blogs on a range of topics on everything from his early studies, the experience of growing old, global compassion, current events, as well as personal reflection.
2025
PAUL PASSES AWAY
Dr. Ekman passed away in November of 2025, surrounded by loved ones and expressing gratitude for a life well lived. Dr. Eve Ekman continues to direct the Paul Ekman Group, continuing her father’s legacy and mission to provide science-backed trainings and resources to the public. You can view and contribute to Paul Ekman’s memorial.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Paul Ekman discovered that some facial expressions of emotion are universal while many of the apparent differences in facial expressions across cultures were due to context. He also co-discovered micro facial expressions.
Paul Ekman theorized that some basic human emotions (happiness/enjoyment, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust and contempt) are innate and shared by everyone, and that they are accompanied across cultures by universal facial expressions.
PAUL EKMAN GROUP BLOG
August 21, 2026
