George C. Williams
George Christopher Williams (born May 12, 1926 in Charlotte , North Carolina , † September 8, 2010 ) was an American evolutionary biologist .
Act
Williams was Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. With his 1966 book Adaptation and Natural Selection , he started the 'Williams Revolution' that led to the gene-centered basis of evolution. He took the view that natural selection attacked the gene, and criticized representatives of group selection , for example Vero Wynne-Edwards . Richard Dawkins popularized and expanded the ideas in his book The Selfish Gene .
Life
Williams was interested in natural selection and behavioral biology from an early age . When he was studying at the University of California, Los Angeles , G. Ledyard Stebbins made him aware of Theodosius Dobzhansky book 'Genetics and The Origin of Species', which had a major influence on him. He achieved his Ph.D. 1955 at the University of California in Los Angeles.
He then lectured at the University of Chicago . For many years he researched the evolutionary biology of fish and made significant contributions to the study of the evolution of sexuality.
He was the editor of the American Naturalist and was President of the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1989 . Williams taught at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Stony Brook from 1960 until he retired in 1990. More recently, he has been involved in Darwinian medicine.
George Williams died on September 8, 2010.
Honors
- Williams was elected Eminent Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America in 1989.
- Guggenheim grant
- Williams had been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1990 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1993
- He received the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal in 1992 .
- Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1999
Works
- Williams, GC 1966 Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton University Press.
- Williams, GC 1975 Sex and Evolution. Princeton University Press.
- Taylor, PO and GC Williams. 1984 Demographic parameters at evolutionary equilibrium. Canad. J. Zool. 62: 2264-2271.
- Williams, GC 1985 A defense of reductionism in evolutionary biology. Oxford Surv. Evol. Biol. 2: 127.
- Williams, GC 1988 Huxley's Evolution and Ethics in sociobiological perspective. Zygon 23: 383-438.
- Williams, GC 1992 Natural Selection: Domains, Levels, and Challenges. Oxford University Press.
- Williams, GC, Nesse, Randolph M. 1995 Why we get sick; 1997 Why we get sick.
- Williams, GC, Nesse, Randoph M. 1996 Evolution and Healing: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine
- Williams, GC 1997 The Ponyfish's Glow: and Other Clues to Plan and Purpose in Nature
See also
Architects of the synthetic theory of evolution (1930–1950):
- Theodosius Dobzhansky
- G. Ledyard Stebbins
- Sewall Wright
- Julian Huxley
- Bernhard Rensch
- George Gaylord Simpson
- Ernst Mayr
Individual evidence
Web links
- Literature by and about George C. Williams in the catalog of the German National Library
- official website
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Williams, George C. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Williams, George Christopher |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American evolutionary biologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 12, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charlotte , North Carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 8, 2010 |