Ernst Mayr

Ernst Mayr (July 5, 1904, Kempten, Germany – February 3, 2005, Bedford, Massachusetts USA), was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was at the same time a naturalist, an explorer, an ornithologist and science historian.

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His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the biological species concept.

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Neither Darwin nor anyone else in his time knew the answer to the 'species problem' : how could different species evolve from one common ancestor. Ernst Mayr brought the solution by defining the concept 'species'. In his book 'Systematics and the Origin of Species' (1942) he wrote that a species is not a group of morphologically similar individuals, but a group that can breed only among themselves, excluding all others. When groups of identical individuals get isolated, the sub-populations will start to differ by genetic drift and natural selection over a period of time, and thereby evolve into new species.

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His theory of peripatric speciation based on his work on birds is considered as one typical mode of speciation, and is the basis of the theory of punctuated equilibrium.

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Apart from biological subjects, his writings include works on the philosophy and history of science in general and of biology in particular.

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July 5: July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining....

1904: 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar)....

Kempten: Kempten can refer to:...

Ernst Mayr related Images and Photos (experimental)

Ernst Von Schuch	Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann	Ernst Haeckel Art Forms in Nature 2012 Wall Calendar	Ernst Haeckel Art Forms in Nature 2011 Wall Calendar
Elisabeth Wendt and Ernst Busch: La Tragédie De La Mine 1931	Portrait of Count Ernst Christoph von Manteuffel	Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel Graf Von Waldstein Friend of Beethoven and Dedicatee	Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher German Philologist and Protestant Philosopher
Field Marshal Baron Ernst Von Laudon General in Seven Years' War and War of Bavarian Succession	Death of Cat Murr Die Lebensansichten Des Katers Murr by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann