Theodosius Dobzhansky | |
|---|---|
 Dobzhansky in 1966 | |
| Born | Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (1900-01-25)January 25, 1900 |
| Died | December 18, 1975(1975-12-18) (aged 75) |
| Alma mater | University of Kiev |
| Known for | Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Sophie Coe |
| Parents |
|
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Evolutionary biology,genetics |
| Institutions | University of Kiev(1921–1924)[2] University of Leningrad(1924–1927)[2] Columbia University(1927–1928, 1940–1962)[2] California Institute of Technology(1928–1940)[2] Rockefeller University(1962–1970)[2] University of California, Davis(1971–1975)[2] |
| Doctoral advisor | Yuri Filipchenko |
| Doctoral students | Bruce Wallace,Richard Lewontin |
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (Russian:Феодосий Григорьевич Добржанский;Ukrainian:Теодосій Григорович Добржанський; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a Russian-born[3] Americangeneticist andevolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field ofevolutionary biology for his work in shaping themodern synthesis[4][5] and also popular for his support and promotion oftheistic evolution as a practicingChristian.[6] Born in theRussian Empire, Dobzhansky immigrated to theUnited States in 1927 at the age of 27.[7]
His 1937 workGenetics and the Origin of Species became a major influence on the modern synthesis. He was awarded the U.S.National Medal of Science in 1964[8] and theFranklin Medal in 1973. He is famous for his essay "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution."[9]
Dobzhansky was born on January 25, 1900,[2] inNemirov,Russian Empire (now Nemyriv,Ukraine), the only child of Grigory Dobzhansky, a mathematics teacher, and Sophia Voinarsky.[4]: 59 He was given an unusual name,Theodosius, because he was born after his middle-aged parents prayed for a child to St.Theodosius of Chernigov. In 1910 the family moved toKiev.
At high school, Dobzhansky collected butterflies and decided to become a biologist.[5]: 163 In 1915, he met Victor Luchnik who convinced him to specialize inbeetles instead. Dobzhansky attended theUniversity of Kiev, where he then studied until 1924 specializing in entomology.[10] He then moved to Leningrad (todaySt. Petersburg) to study underYuri Filipchenko, where aDrosophila melanogaster laboratory had been established.
On August 8, 1924, Dobzhansky married geneticist Natalia "Natasha" Sivertzeva, who was working withIvan Schmalhausen in Kiev. The Dobzhanskys had one daughter, known under her married name asSophie Coe, an anthropologist, food historian, and author, primarily known for her work on thehistory of chocolate.
Before immigrating to the United States, Dobzhansky published 35 scientific works on entomology and genetics.
Dobzhansky immigrated to the United States in 1927 on a work–study scholarship from the International Education Board of theRockefeller Foundation. Upon arriving in New York City on December 27, he joined theDrosophila Group at Columbia University working alongsideThomas Hunt Morgan andAlfred Sturtevant. Their work provided crucial information on Drosophila cytogenetics.[11] Additionally, Dobzhansky and his team helped establishDrosophila pseudoobscura, within the genusDrosophila, as a favorable model organism in evolutionary-biological studies ever since they published their influential works.[12][13][14] Dobzhansky's original mindset (after studying alongsideYuri Filipchenko), was that there were serious doubts on using data obtained from phenomena happening in local populations (microevolution) and phenomena happening on a global scale (macroevolution). Filipchenko also believed that there were only two types of inheritance:Mendelian inheritance of variation within species, and Non-Mendelian inheritance of variation in a macroevolutionary sense. Dobzhansky later stated that Filipchenko "bet on the wrong horse".[15]
He followed Morgan to theCalifornia Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1940. On the basis of his experiments, he articulated the idea thatreproductive isolation can be caused by differences in presence of microbial symbionts between populations.[16] In 1937, he published one of the major works of themodern evolutionary synthesis, the synthesis ofevolutionary biology withgenetics, titledGenetics and the Origin of Species, which amongst other things, definedevolution as "a change in thefrequency of an allele within agene pool". Dobzhansky's work was instrumental in spreading the idea that it is through mutations in genes thatnatural selection takes place. Also in 1937, he became anaturalized citizen of the United States. During this time, he had a very public falling out with one of hisDrosophila collaborators,Alfred Sturtevant, based primarily in professional competition.
He returned toColumbia University from 1940 to 1962. Among his students was geneticistBruce Wallace.[17] In 1941, Dobzhansky was awarded theDaniel Giraud Elliot Medal from theNational Academy of Sciences, of which he was also a member.[18][19] He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1942.[20] In 1943, theUniversity of São Paulo awarded him anhonorary doctorate.[21] He was one of the signatories of the 1950UNESCO statementThe Race Question. He was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1953.[22] He then moved to the Rockefeller Institute (shortly to becomeRockefeller University) until his retirement in 1971. In 1972 he was elected the founding president of theBehavior Genetics Association,[23] and was recognized by the society for his role inbehavior genetics, and the founding of the society by the creation of the Dobzhansky Award (for a lifetime of outstanding scholarship in behavior genetics).
Dobzhansky's work in the field of evolutionary genetics, with the help ofSewall Wright, integrated standards of the theoretical, natural historical, and experimental work.[11]
Dobzhansky was elected aForeign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1965.[4] In 1970, he publishedGenetics of the evolutionary process.[24]
Dobzhansky was renowned as the president of theGenetics Society of America in 1941, president of theAmerican Society of Naturalists in 1950, president of theSociety for the Study of Evolution in 1951, president of theAmerican Society of Zoologists in 1963, a member of the board of directors of theAmerican Eugenics Society in 1964, and president of the AmericanTeilhard de Chardin Association in 1969.[10][15]
Dobzhansky's research and studies allowed him to travel the world and receive honorary degrees in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden.[25]
Theodosius Dobzhansky published three editions of his bookGenetics and the Origin of Species. Although the book was meant for people with a background in biology, it was easily understood.[26] In the fields of genetics and evolution, Dobzhansky's book is acknowledged as one of the most important books ever written. With each revision ofGenetics and the Origin of Species, Dobzhansky added new material on crucial, up-to-date topics, and removed material he deemed to be no longer crucial. His book sparked trends in genetic research and theory.[27]
The first edition ofGenetics and the Origin of Species (1937) highlighted the most recent discoveries in genetics and how they applied to the concept of evolution.[26] The book starts by addressing the problem of evolution and how modern discoveries in genetics could help find a solution. The book covers the chromosomal basis ofMendelian Inheritance, how the effects from changes in chromosomes greater than gene mutations are common and acceptable, and how mutations form racial and specific differences.[28] Dobzhansky explained how three levels could describe the processes of evolutionary population genetics: (1) the origin of raw materials by mutations of genes and chromosomes, (2) the changes in populations by changes in frequencies and combinations of mutations, (3) the fixation of changes by reproductive isolation.[27] To support his writing and research, the bibliography was twenty-eight pages long with around six hundred sources.[28]
In Dobzhansky's second edition ofGenetics and the Origin of Species (1941), four years had gone by and he was able to add more research and advancements made in genetics. Around half of the new research he found was added to the last two chapters in his book: Patterns of Evolution, and Species as Natural Units. In the second to last chapter, Patterns of Evolution, Dobzhansky explained how on the path to a new adaptation, a method could be used to where a species could go through a less adaptive stage. The last chapter, Species as Natural Units, Dobzhansky explained some of the contributions made in genetics to what was called "the new systematics". Dobzhansky's second edition of the book also had twice as many sources in the bibliography than the first edition.[26]
In the third revision ofGenetics and the Origin of Species (1951), Dobzhansky rewrote all ten chapters on: Isolating Mechanisms, Mutation in Populations, Organic Diversity, Heredity and Mutation, Race Formation, Selection, Adaptive Polymorphism, Hybrid Sterility, Species as Natural Units, and Patterns of Evolution. Dobzhansky decided to remove the chapter on Polyploidy in the third edition.[29] The new chapter on Adaptive Polymorphism highlighted Dobzhansky's research since the second edition. He included precise, quantitative evidence on effectivenatural selection in laboratory and free populations.[27]
Theodosius Dobzhansky andAshley Montagu debated the use and validity of the term "race" over a period of many years without reaching an agreement. Montagu argued that"race" was so laden with toxic associations that it was a word best eliminated from science completely. Dobzhansky argued that science should not give in to the misuses to which it had been subjected, and that the concept ofanimal and plant races has been important in biology; themodern synthesis used the concept for describing thediverging biological populations differing in gene frequencies. This was done in hopes that its foundation inpopulation genetics would undermine the deeply ingrained social prejudices associated with "race".[30]
His concern with the interface between humans and biology may have come from different factors. The main factor would be the race prejudice that contributed in Europe that triggeredWWII. His concern also dealt with religion in human life which he speaks about in his bookThe Biology of Ultimate Concern in 1967. "The pervasiveness of genetic variation provides the biological foundation of human individuality".[5] Dobzhansky talks about in great detail that "human nature has 2 dimensions: the biological, which mankind shares with the rest of life, and the cultural, which is exclusive to humans."[5] Both of these are believed to have come from "biological evolution and cultural evolution".[5]
Dobzhansky sought to put an end to the pseudoscience that purports genetic makeup to determine race, and thus rank in society. Harrison E. Salisbury wrote in aNew York Times review of Dobzhansky's bookHeredity and the Future of Man that Dobzhansky could not, together with other scientists, agree upon what defines a race. Dobzhansky stated that a true bloodline for man could not be identified. He did not believe that a person's genetic makeup decided whether or not he would be a great man but rather that man "has the rare opportunity 'to direct his evolution'".[31]
Dobzhansky's wife Natasha died ofcoronary thrombosis on February 22, 1969.[32] Earlier (on June 1, 1968), Theodosius had been diagnosed withlymphocytic leukemia (a chronic form of leukemia), and had been given a few months to a few years to live. He retired in 1971, moving to theUniversity of California, Davis where his studentFrancisco J. Ayala had been made assistant professor, and where he continued working as an emeritus professor. He published one of his most famous essays "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" in 1973, influenced by the paleontologist and priestPierre Teilhard de Chardin.
By 1975, his leukemia had become more severe, and on November 11 he traveled toSan Jacinto, California, for treatment and care. Working until his last day as a professor of genetics, Dobzhansky died (from heart failure) on December 18, 1975, in Davis, California.[11] He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Californian wilderness.[citation needed]
Theodosius Dobzhansky believed thatGod andscience can be reconciled through the idea that theCreator brought about his plan through the processes of evolution. He described his beliefs as "Evolution is God's, or Nature's, method of Creation."[33][34][6]
During his career, Dobzhansky published widely in books andpeer-reviewedscientific journals:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Recipient of theElliott Cresson Medal 1973 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
