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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July 5 - 1904 - Kempten - Germany - February 3 - 2005 - Bedford, Massachusetts - USA - Biologists

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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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Modern evolutionary synthesis - Mendelian - Genetics - Darwinian - Evolution - Biological - Species

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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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Darwin - Species - Morphologically - Genetic drift

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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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Peripatric speciation - Speciation - 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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Philosophy - History of science - Biology

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