Ernst Mayr, 1904-2005

The eminent biologist Ernst Mayr died earlier this week, aged 100. Mayr was as important to the field of evolutionary biology in the 20th century as Darwin had been in the 19th century. Among other accomplishments, he completed his PhD in just 16 months; published more than 700 articles (200 since her "retired" from Harvard in 1975) and fourteen books; named 24 bird species; fused genetics, geography, and biology into the predominant theory of evolutionary change, allopatric speciation; devised the most commonly accepted defintion of a species (a population of organisms which can interbreed, but cannot breed with other populations); and distinguished the history of biology from that of other sciences. Read more on Mayr here and here.

(August 21, 2005: Edited to alter incorrect date.)