Michael Ghiselin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Michael Tenant Ghiselin (born May 13, 1939 Salt Lake City ) is an American evolutionary biologist who wrote influential works on nudibranchs and theoretical biology .

Life

Ghiselin received his Ph.D. 1965 at Stanford University and was then Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (1964-1965) and the Marine Biological Laboratory (1965-1967). His dissertation was entitled Reproductive function and the evolution of opisthobranch gastropods . In 1967 he became an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1978/79 before he was a research professor in biology at the University of Utah from 1980 to 1983 . He has been a Senior Research Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences since 1983 and was a MacArthur Prize Fellow from 1981 to 1986.

plant

Ghiselin was known for his work on chemical defense substances in hind gill snails . A species ( Hypselodoris ghiselini ) and a chemical that is probably used by this species for defense purposes ( ghiselinin ) were named after him.

The evolutionary biologist also worked on the history and philosophy of biology. The historical works deal primarily with Charles Darwin , in the context of which he introduced the term evolutionary psychology in 1973 , and comparative zoology. With regard to the philosophy of biology , one of his proposals to change the classification concept is relevant. In 1974 Ghiselin proposed to replace the abstract and static mathematical class concept with a concept in which species are to be understood as individuals who (in contrast to classes) are subject to changes in space and time. These are to be defined ostensibly .

The scientist also deals with the relationship between biology and economics ( bioeconomy ). Ghiselin is Vice President of the International Society for Bioeconomics and Co-Editor of the Journal of Bioeconomics .

Works (selection)

  • Morphological and behavioral concealing adaptations of Lamellaria stearnsii , a marine prosobranch gastropod . In: The Veliger . tape 6 , no. 3 , 1964, pp. 123-124 .
  • The Triumph of the Darwinian Method . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1969.
  • The Economy of Nature and the Evolution of Sex . University of California Press, Berkeley, 1974.
  • Intellectual Compromise: The Bottom Line . Paragon House, New York, 1989.
  • Metaphysics and the Origin of Species . State University of New York Press, Albany, 1997.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Michael Ghiselin: "Darwin and evolutionary psychology", in: Science, 1973.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ghiselin, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ghiselin, Michael T .; Ghiselin, Michael Tenant
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biologist, bioeconomist, and philosopher of biology
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Salt Lake City