Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza

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Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2010)

Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (born January 25, 1922 in Genoa ; † August 31, 2018 in Belluno ) was an Italian population geneticist who taught as a professor at Stanford University in California since 1970 . He became known through studies in which he showed that there are parallels between the genetic relationship of different peoples (→  relationship (biology) ) and that of the languages they speak (→  genetic relationship (linguistics) ). This led Cavalli-Sforza to inferences about early migratory movements in the prehistory of mankind and made him probably the most influential population geneticist of his time.

Life

Cavalli-Sforza began to study medicine at the University of Pavia in 1938 and received his doctorate in 1944. After a short period as a doctor, he researched after 1945 at the University of Cambridge in the field of bacterial genetics. In 1950 he left Cambridge and was Research Director for Microbiology at the Istituto Sieroterapico Milanese in Milan until 1957 . For another three years he lectured at the universities of Parma and Pavia. In 1960 he became professor of genetics in Pavia; from 1962 to 1970 he taught as a professor of genetics and statistics at the universities of Parma and Pavia. In 1970 he moved to Stanford University, where he retired in 1992 .

Cavalli-Sforza had been with Albamaria Buzzati, b. Ramazzotti, married and had four children, three sons and a daughter. With his son Francesco, he published several books, including teaching materials for Italian secondary schools .

Researches

Population tree according to Cavalli-Sforza

Cavalli-Sforza researched mainly on the descent of humans . When the genetic structure of inheritance ( DNA ) became known, he was one of the first scientists to ask whether the genes of today's populations also contained historical information about the course of inheritance. His studies of genetic drift in the Parma region are reflected in the book Consanguinity, Inbreeding and Genetic Drift in Italy . Cavalli-Sforza combined demographic studies based on linguistic , cultural and archaeological data with genetic data, such as the distribution of blood groups . Therefore, he went on numerous expeditions to collect blood samples and genetic material. This enabled him to set up evolutionary family trees based on genetic, cultural, linguistic, anthropological and archaeological data. He also designed genetic maps that showed the distribution and spread of genes across the continents.

Cavalli-Sforza opposed the division of people into races . He and his son Francesco justified this in their 1994 book Different and yet the same as follows:

"The genes that react to the climate [in the course of evolution ] influence the external characteristics of the body, because adaptation to the climate primarily requires a change in the body surface (which, so to speak, represents the interface between our organism and the outside world). . It is precisely because these characteristics are external that the differences between the 'races' are so obvious that we believe that equally blatant differences also exist for the rest of the genetic makeup. But that is not the case: in terms of the rest of our genetic makeup, we differ only slightly from one another. "

He also found that, depending on the gene examined, there were other distribution focuses and therefore only smooth transitions between neighboring groups occurred. Instead, he proposed a combined family tree that lists 38 geographically distinguishable human populations according to their genetic relationship and their membership of 20 language families . He was based on the classification of Merritt Ruhlen .

In The History and Geography of Human Genes , the result of 30 years of work, he came to the conclusion that apart from a few genetically determined characteristics such as skin color, the genetic differences between individuals are so great that the biological concept of "race" become meaningless or empty in terms of content. The greatest measurable genetic difference is between some African populations and Australian Aborigines , although both are almost black in skin color.

Cavalli-Sforza was the founder of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 1990 . The HGP was first headed by James Watson , one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA.

Awards

literature

  • Mark Terkessidis (1999): Psychodarwinism. Selection and fate: the sociobiologists on the side of postmodern capitalism. In: Der Tagesspiegel from August 14, 1999.
  • Linda Stone, Paul F. Lurquin: A Genetic And Cultural Odyssey. The Life And Work Of L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza. Columbia University Press, New York NY et al. 2005, ISBN 0-231-13396-0

Works (selection)

  • with Walter Fred Bodmer : The Genetics of human Populations. Freeman, San Francisco CA 1971, ISBN 0-7167-1018-8 .
  • with Marcus W. Feldman: Cultural Transmission and Evolution. A quantitative approach (= Monographs in Population Biology. Vol. 16). Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1981, ISBN 0-691-08280-4 .
  • with Albert J. Ammerman: Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1984, ISBN 0-691-08357-6 .
  • African pygmies . Academic Press, Orlando 1986, ISBN 0-12-164481-2
  • with Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza: The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1994, ISBN 0-691-08750-4 .
  • with Francesco Cavalli-Sforza: Chi Siamo. La Storia della Diversità umana. Mondadori, Milan 1993, ISBN 88-04-36901-9 (In German as: Different and yet equal. A geneticist removes the basis of racism. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-426-26804-3 ; in English as: The Great Human Diasporas. The History of Diversity and Evolution. Addison-Wesley, Rading 1995, ISBN 0-201-44231-0 ).
  • Geni, Popoli e Lingue (= Piccola Biblioteca Adelphi. Vol. 367). Adelphi, Milan 1996, ISBN 88-459-1200-0 (In German as: Genes, Völker und Sprachen. The biological foundations of our civilization. Hanser, Munich et al. 1999, ISBN 3-446-19479-7 ; in English: Genes, Peoples and Languages. Allen Lane, London et al. 2000, ISBN 0-7139-9486-X ).
  • with Francesco Cavalli-Sforza: La Scienza della Felicità. Ragioni e Valori della nostra Vita. Mondadori, Milan 1997, ISBN 88-04-41061-2 (In German as: Vom Glück auf Erden. Answers to the question about the good life. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-498-00917-6 ).
  • with Antoni Moroni, Gianna Zei: Consanguinity, Inbreeding, and Genetic Drift in Italy (= Monographs in Population Biology. Vol. 39). Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2004, ISBN 0-691-08992-2 .
  • Il Caso e la Necessità. Ragioni e Limiti della Diversità Genetica. Di Renzo Editore, Rome 2007, ISBN 88-8323-165-1 .

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Silvia Bencivelli: Addio a Cavalli Sforza, il genetista che studiò le migrazioni dell'umanità. In: repubblica.it . September 1, 2018, accessed September 3, 2018 (Italian).
  2. ↑ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza , alunni.ghislieri.it
  3. ↑ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Francesco Cavalli-Sforza: La génétique des populations: histoire d'une découverte, Odile Jacob, 2008, p. 192 [1]
  4. ↑ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Francesco Cavalli-Sforza: La génétique des populations: histoire d'une découverte, Odile Jacob, 2008, p. 107 [2]
  5. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza: Genes, Peoples and Languages. The biological foundations of our civilization. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 1999, p. 203.
  6. ↑ Harald Haarmann: Small Lexicon of Nations. CH Beck, Munich 2004.
    Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza: Genes, Peoples and Languages. The biological foundations of our civilization. Hanser, Munich-Vienna 1999.
  7. ^ Norbert Finzsch : Scientific Racism in the United States - 1850 to 1930 . Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and New York, 1999. ISBN 3-593-36228-7 . P. 87.
  8. ↑ Tim Beardsley, Inge Hoefer: Trends in Human Genetics: Decrypted Life. In: Spectrum of Science . July 1, 1996, accessed September 3, 2018 .
  9. ^ Past Members: Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza. Royal Irish Academy, accessed April 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian biologist, geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Genoa
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 2018
Place of death Belluno