Lynn Margulis

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Lynn Margulis (2005)

Lynn Margulis (born: Lynn Alexander ; born March 5, 1938 in Chicago , Illinois ; † November 22, 2011 in Amherst , Massachusetts ) was an American biologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst .

Life

Margulis' best-known scientific achievement is the rediscovery and further development of the endosymbiotic theory of the origin of plastids and mitochondria as originally independent prokaryotic organisms, postulated by Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper in 1883 and again proposed by Konstantin Sergejewitsch Mereschkowski in 1905 . According to this popular theory, they entered into a symbiotic relationship with other prokaryotic cells at an early stage in evolutionary history , as a result of which the latter developed into eukaryotic cells . This thesis also explains the special properties of mitochondria and plastids as cell organelles and the development of other eukaryotic cell characteristics such as the cell nucleus .

Lynn Margulis was also known as a strong proponent of the Gaia Hypothesis , which was originally developed by James Lovelock .

In 1983 Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and in 1998 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1999 she was awarded the National Medal of Science .

She was married from 1957 to 1965 to the astrophysicist Carl Sagan , the father of their sons Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Ethan Sagan. From 1967 to 1980 she was married to Thomas Margulis. The couple had a son and a daughter.

Works

  • Lynn Sagan: On the Origin of Mitosing Cells. In: Journal of Theoretical Biology. Volume 14, No. 3, 1967, pp. 255-274. PMID 11541392 , doi: 10.1016 / 0022-5193 (67) 90079-3
  • Lynn Margulis: Origin of Eukaryotic Cells. Yale University Press, New Haven 1970.
  • Lynn Margulis, Karlene V. Schwartz: The Five Realms of Organisms: A Guide. Translated from the American by Bruno P. Kremer. Spectrum of the science publishing company, Heidelberg 1989, ISBN 3-89330-694-3 .
  • Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan: Mystery and Ritual. The evolution of human sexuality. Byblos Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-929029-17-0 .
  • Lynn Margulis: The Other Evolution. Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg and Berlin 1999.
  • Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan: Life. From origin to diversity . Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg and Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-8274-0524-6 .
  • Lynn Margulis: The Symbiotic Planet. Westend Verlag, Frankfurt 2018. New edition of The Other Evolution . ISBN 978-3-86489-210-3 .

literature

  • Jan Sapp: Evolution by Association: A History of Symbiosis. Oxford University Press, New York 1994.
  • Armin Geus , Ekkehard Höxtermann (eds.): Evolution through cooperation and integration: On the emergence of the endosymbiosis theory in cell biology. Basilisk Press, Marburg 2007.

Web links

Commons : Lynn Margulis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ University of Massachusetts professor Lynn Margulis dies at age 73
  2. ^ Profile in the NNDB