biography
| name: |
Simpson, George Gaylord
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1902–84)
|
| biography:
| Palaeontologist, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. After earning a PhD at Yale, he began his long association with the American Museum of Natural History (1927–59), where he was eventually curator of fossil mammals and chairman of the department of geology and palaeontology (1942–59). He was later Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Harvard (1959–70). A specialist in early fossil mammals, he led expeditions on four continents and discovered (1953) the 50-million-year old fossil skulls of Dawn Horses in Colorado. He helped develop the modern biological theory of evolution, drawing on palaeontology, genetics, ecology, and natural selection to show that evolution occurs as a result of natural selection operating in response to shifting environmental conditions. Among his works in this field is the popular Meaning of Evolution (1944, revised 1967). |
|
|
