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February 06, 2005
Ernst Mayr is dead
Ernst Mayr has died, aged 100. He is well known for his 1942 book on Systematics and the Origin of Species, in which he argues for a model of speciation based on geographic (allopatric) isolation. Initially badly received, Mayr argued the case for allopatry until the critics shut up.
Darwin once wrote: "It's dogged as does it... I have often and often thought that this is the motto for every scientific worker." An appropriate thought for a man who has been described as the Darwin of the 20th Century.
His Harvard obituary is here and his WikiPedia entry is here.
Posted by daen at February 6, 2005 03:12 AM