« The Oldest Alphabets
Main
Why "Syro-Palestinian" and not "Biblical" Archaeology? »
February 4, 2005
Goodbye Ernst Mayr
Harvard's Web Site has a eulogy by Steve Bradt to Ernst Mayr who died yesterday at the age of 100.
Ernst Mayr, the Harvard University evolutionary biologist who has been called "the Darwin of the 20th century," died yesterday morning (Feb. 3) at a retirement community in Bedford, Mass. A member of the Harvard faculty for more than half a century, he was 100.Mayr's death came after a brief illness, his family said.
Widely considered the world's most eminent evolutionary biologist and even one of the 100 greatest scientists of all time, Mayr joined Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1953 as Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and led Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology from 1961 to 1970. He retired in 1975, assuming the title Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology Emeritus.
"Professor Mayr's contributions to Harvard University, and to the field of evolutionary biology, were extraordinary by any measure," said William C. Kirby, Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. "As a professor, museum director, benefactor to our library of comparative zoology, and leading mind of the 20th century, he shaped and articulated modern understanding of biodiversity and related fields. With sadness, we note his passing; with gratitude, we thank him for his legacy."
There is more. Mayr is likely the most important biologist of the 20th century. He is the major architect of the modern synthesis which united evolution and genetics.
Posted by Duane Smith at February 4, 2005 8:36 PM | Read more on Evolution |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1039