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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2005 : 13:47:03
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6914624/
Another blow for the Harvard team, too bad.
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"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2005 : 18:55:43 [Permalink]
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This man wasn't just a 'friend' of evolution, but one of the giants.
Dr. Mayr was at the leading edge of the modern synthesis of natural selection and genetics (some call him one of its 'architects'). Mayr was doing field research and adding to our knowledge about evolution for decades. His published works, if I'm not mistaken, span 71 years.
While apparently a somewhat difficult man to work with (Niles Eldredge said in a radio interview tonight that Mayr repeatedly tried to claim punctuated equilibria as his own idea), he also apparently had a sense of humor, as shown by an anecdote retold last July by Scientific American's Steve Mirsky:In 1928 Mayr performed the first survey of the birds of New Guinea's Cyclops Mountains. [James] Hanken recounted an anecdote that illustrates both the changed nature of biological fieldwork and Mayr's capacity for one-liners. It seems that Mayr and ornithologist Peter Alden attended a recent talk at Harvard by the naturalist and television host David Attenborough about Attenborough's attempts over many years to film bowerbirds and birds of paradise in New Guinea. "And after looking at all of these beautiful birds," Hanken said, "many of which are now endangered and highly prized and not to be even touched or breathed on, Ernst leaned over to Peter and said, 'I've eaten many of those.'"
- "One Hundred Years of Magnitude" Dang, decent biographical information or interviews are hard to find for Dr. Mayr: |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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