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Ernst Mayr

Ernst Mayr Quotes

Biologist

German-American biologist and a pioneer in evolutionary biology, Ernst Mayr made significant contributions to the development of modern evolutionary theory. His research in systematics, speciation, and biological classification had a profound impact on the field.

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Famous Ernst Mayr Quotes

“As a consequence, geneticists described evolution simply as a change in gene frequencies in populations, totally ignoring the fact that evolution consists of the two simultaneous but quite separate phenomena of adaptation and diversification.”

Two Facts Evolution Consequence Population Genes Adaptation Frequency Simultaneous Diversification Ignoring Facts

Book:Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist

Source: Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist

“On the other hand, famous evolutionists such as Dobzhansky were firm believers in a personal God. He would work as a scientist all week and then on Sunday get down on his knees and pray to God. Frankly I've never been able to understand it because you would need two totally different compartments in your brain, one that deals with religion and the other with everything else.”

Needs Two Different Hands Able Religion Deals Brain Week Atheism Praying Scientist Believer Firm Knees Sunday Praying To God

Author:Ernst Mayr

“Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if he ignores these two great truths of population zoology: (1) no two individuals are alike, and (2) both environment and genetic endowment make a contribution to nearly every trait.”

Ifs Humans Two Individual Mistake Environment Politician Bounds Population Graves Contribution Traits Physicians Educator Endowment Clergymen Zoology

Author:Ernst Mayr

“Two forms or species are sympatric, if they occur together, that is if their areas of distribution overlap or coincide. Two forms (or species) are allapatric, if they do not occur together, that is if they exclude each other geographically. The term allopatric is primarily useful in denoting geographic representatives.”

Ifs Two Together Form Science Term Areas Species Representatives Distribution

Author:Ernst Mayr