Preface, 1998

Preface to the Original Edition

Prologue: Some Thoughts on the History of the Evolutionary Synthesis
Ernst Mayr

Part One: Different Biological Disciplines and the Synthesis

Genetics

Introduction
William B. Provine

Theoretical Population Genetics in the Evolutionary Synthesis
Richard C. Lewontin

Cytology

Introduction
William B. Provine

The Evolution of Genetic Systems: Contributions of Cytology to Evolutionary Theory
C.D. Darlington

Cytology in the T.H. Morgan School
Alexander Weinstein

Cytogenetics and the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis
Hampton L. Carson

Embryology

Introduction
William B. Provine

Embryology and the Modern Synthesis in Evolutionary Theory
Viktor Hamburger

The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis and the Biogenetic Law
Frederick B. Churchill

Systematics

The Role of Systematics in the Evolutionary Synthesis
Ernst Mayr

Botany

Introduction
Ernst Mayr

Botany and the Synthetic Theory of Evolution
G. Ledyard Stebbins

Paleontology

Introduction
Ernst Mayr

G.G. Simpson, Paleontology, and the Modern Synthesis
Stephen Jay Gould

Morphology

Introduction
Ernst Mayr

Morphology in the Evolutionary Synthesis
William Coleman

The Failure of Morphology to Assimilate Darwinism
Michael T. Ghiselin

Severtsov and Schmalhausen: Russian Morphology and the Evolutionary Synthesis
Mark B. Adams

Part Two: The Synthesis in Different Countries

Soviet Union

The Birth of the Genetic Theory of Evolution in the Soviet Union in the 1920s
Theodosius Dobzhansky

Sergei Chetverikov, the Kol'tsov Institute, and the Evolutionary Synthesis
Mark B. Adams

Germany

Introduction
Ernst Mayr

Historical Development of the Present Synthetic Neo-Darwinism in Germany
Bernhard Rensch

Evolutionary Theory in Germany: A Comment
Viktor Hamburger

France

Introduction
Ernst Mayr

Evolutionary Biology in France at the Time of the Evolutionary Synthesis
Ernest Boesiger

The Arrival of Neo-Darwinism in France
Ernst Mayr

A Second Glance at Evolutionary Biology in France
Camille Limoges

England

Introduction
William B. Provine

Some Recollections Pertaining to the Evolutionary Synthesis
E.B. Ford

Lamarckism in Britain and the United States
Richard W. Burkhardt, Jr.

A Note on W.L. Tower's Leptinotarsa Work
Alexander Weinstein

United States

Introduction
William B. Provine

The Evolutionary Synthesis: Morgan and Natural Selection Revisited
Garland E. Allen

Hypotheses That Blur and Grow
Hampton L. Carson

Part Three: Final Considerations

Interpretive Issues in the Evolutionary Synthesis

Introduction
William B. Provine

The Meaning of the Evolutionary Synthesis
Dudley Shapere

Epilogue
William B. Provine

Biographical Essays

How I Became a Darwinian
Ernst Mayr

Curt Stem
Ernst Mayr

J.B.S. Haldane, R.A. Fisher, and William Bateson
C.D. Darlington

Morgan and the Theory of Natural Selection
Alexander Weinstein

Morgan and His School in the 1930s
Theodosius Dobzhansky

G.G. Simpson
Ernst Mayr

Contributors

Conference Participants

Index

Ernst Mayr is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is also the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Crafoord Prize for Biology, the National Medal of Science, the Balzan Prize, and the Japan Prize.

Read More by Ernst Mayr:

• Evolution and the Diversity of Life: Selected Essays
• This Is Biology: The Science of the Living World
• The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance
• One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought
• Populations, Species, and Evolution, An Abridgment of <i>Animal Species and Evolution</i>
• Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist
• Systematics and the Origin of Species from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist
• Animal Species and Evolution