Th Dobzhansky

Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900 - 1975)
Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский

Russian-born biologist who was an early proponent of the study of genetic variation in natural populations as a means to understand evolution. Moved from the Soviet Union first to Cal Tech in southern California and then to New York, he studied chromosomal variation in Drosophila pseudoobscura, a wild relative of D. melanogaster. His demonstration that frequencies of different chromosomal arrangements within species varied according to altitude, temperature, and humidity, and regularly cycled over the seasons of the year, was the first clear evidence that genetic variation was adaptive, as Darwin had predicted. His "Genetics and the Origin of Species" (1937; 4th ed., 1970) contributed the Genetics component of the Modern Synthesis. His aphorism that "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" is widely quoted.



All text material ©2019 by Steven M. Carr