Somewhere between 1920 and 1950, William Provine notes in an
epilogue, "a consensus concerning the mechanism of evolution
appeared among biologists. . . Whatever it is called - evolution,
the modern synthesis, the evolutionary synthesis, or twentieth
century Darwinism. . . [it was] a comprehensive and compelling view
of the mechanism of evolution." The present volume is no less than
an attempt to record how that consensus came about, tapping the
memories and interpretations of some of the prime movers as well as
latter-day inheritors and historians in the field. The forces to be
reconciled were those of the geneticists, other specialists working
at the cellular level, and the macrobiologists - those concerned
with species, natural selection, taxonomy, paleontology. By the
late 1940s, geneticists had taken the lead and laid claim to
accomplishing the evolutionary synthesis. Not so, proclaimed Ernst
Mayr and C. H. Waddington. In 1974, two workshops were held to
address the issue. Mayr was the chairman. Dobzhansky was there. So
were Darlington, Provine, Lewontin, DeVore, and such new lights as
Stephen Jay Gould, Frank Sulloway, and Robert Trivers. Their
retrospective papers, plus contributions from a stellar list of
invitees, constitute the text, along with some fascinating
biographical appendices. Even a casual reading of the papers points
up how disparate were views here and abroad during the first
quarter of the century. Many a geneticist was a neo-Lamarckian.
Embryologists typically dismissed the genetic material in cells as
having no significance for development: after all, the genetic
material was the same in all the cells of an animal, but the cells
were different. In truth, reading the volume does not clearly
explain how synthesis came about - nor even convey exactly what
synthesis means. Rather, as Mayr indicates, it shows just how many
and how complex were the strands to be woven into synthesis. While
the material is all at the professional level, lay readers - and
especially students - may find much of this first-hand testimony
exciting. For historians and philosophers of science, it is paydirt
to be tapped as they debate how pivotal theories form and evolve.
What better example than the evolutionary synthesis itself? (Kirkus
Reviews)
Biology was forged into a single, coherent science only within
living memory. In this volume the thinkers responsible for the
"modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology and genetics come
together to analyze that remarkable event.
In a new Preface, Ernst Mayr calls attention to the fact that
scientists in different biological disciplines varied considerably
in their degree of acceptance of Darwin's theories. Mayr shows us
that these differences were played out in four separate periods:
1859 to 1899, 1900 to 1915, 1916 to 1936, and 1937 to 1947. He thus
enables us to understand fully why the synthesis was necessary and
why Darwin's original theory--that evolutionary change is due to
the combination of variation and selection--is as solid at the end
of the twentieth century as it was in 1859.
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