Theodosius Dobzhansky – författare

Featuring an introduction by Stephen Jay Gould, "Genetics and the Origin of Species" presents the first edition of Dobzhansky's groundbreaking and now classic inquiry into what has emerged as the most important single area of scientific inquiry in the twentieth century: biological theory of evolution. Genetics and the Origin of Species went through three editions (1937, 1941, and 1951) in which the importance accorded natural selection changed radically.

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In this volume, the product of decades of study and research, the world's foremost geneticist surveys the major developments in what is emerging as the most important single area of scientific inquiry in the twentieth century: biological theory of evolution in particular. Noting that the theory of evolution in biology is more than a century old, Dr. Dobzhansky points out that it is nevertheless only in recent times that our knowledge of its physical basis as well as our understanding of its dynamics has progressed greatly. Yet, he notes, new problems have replaced the older ones at the forefront of scientific inquiry, problems which require entirely new approaches. It is to these manifold and exciting new questions that the author brings a lifetime of experience. Throughout, his goal is to create not a summary of all the available literature, nor a professional book written only for the scientific community, but rather a presentation of basic ideas, accompanied by the indispensable references which would enable interested readers to pursue the matter further.The book has been purposely kept short to enable it to be read as a whole, and above all, it has been written in a manner which will hold the attention as well as inform both the general reader and the professionally concerned scientist.

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. This statement is an apt motto for the lifework of Theodosius Dobzhansky, whom Stephen Jay Gould has called "the greatest evolutionary geneticist of our times." Between 1937 and 1975, the year of his death, Dobzhansky and twenty-two of his collaborators published forty-three papers in a series called "The Genetics of Natural Populations." Taken as a whole, the series is perhaps the most important single corpus in modern evolutionary genetics. Dobzhansky's Genetics of Natural Populations, I-XLIII reproduces these forty-three articles. Because three of the four editor's of this volume are former students and long-time collaborators of Dobzhansky, they are able to set these important papers in critical perspective. The editors briefly evaluate the totality of Dobzhansky's work and summarize the views expressed in the series-including the historic development of Dobzhansky's ideas on genetic variation. Critical comments illuminate the relationship of the papers to each other and to Dobzhansky's other work. In addition, the editors discuss the role of Dobzhansky's interaction with Alfred Sturtevant and Sewall Wright.In particular, the book features Dobzhansky's pioneering field studies of Drosophila pseudoobscura, which were critical in the formulation of some of his most important conclusions about the genetic structure of populations and, more broadly, about the way evolution works.

The Silliman Lectures at Yale University have been responsible for many books which have greatly influenced the progress of scientific work in the twentieth century.  One of the foremost scientists of our time, Theodosius Dobzhansky, recipient of the Elliot and Kimbler prizes, and Da Costa Professor of Zoology at Columbia University, delivered the Silliman Lectures given in honor of the Centennial of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.  Based upon these lectures, Mr. Dobzhansky’s latest book, Mankind Evolving, now takes its place beside his other great works. With a profound knowledge of the biological theory of evolution and modern genetics, Mr. Dobzhansky explores the possibilities of understanding mankind as a product of evolution and as an evolving whole.  Human evolution, contends Mr. Dobzhansky, cannot be understood as a purely biological process, nor can it be adequately described as a history of culture; rather, it is the interaction between the two components of evolution—the biological, or organic, and the cultural, or superorganic.  The interdependence of these two components is brought out most clearly if we consider that they both serve the same function—the adaptation to and control of man’s environment. Drawing upon evidence from human biology, and the study of fossil ancestors of now-living mankind, Mr. Dobzhansky explains how the biological process led to the inception and advancement of culture as an instrument of adaptation.  In producing the genetic basis of culture, biological evolution has transcended itself: it has produced the superorganic.  The superorganic, Mr. Dobzhansky points out, has not annulled the organic; and human welfare, both in individuals and in societies, is predicated upon the health of the genetic endowment of human population.  Man has not only evolved but is evolving, and Mr. Dobzhansky expounds the thesis that the genetic basis of culture should be improved, or at the very least should not be allowed to deteriorate.  Mankind Evolving is of vital importance not only for scientists but for all who are concerned with the health of future generations.   Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Pierre Lecomte Du Nuoy Prize. "The most interesting . . . the most judicious scientific treatise that has ever been written on the nature of man . . . displays tremendous erudition over an even broader range of knowledge than is found in its author's previous works. . . . No one who is concerned with his own nature and that of mankind—and this included poets, philosophers, and theologians—can afford to miss this book."—George Gaylord Simpson.