Theodosius Dobzhansky Quotes

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Evolutionary plasticity can be purchased only at the ruthlessly dear price of continuously sacrificing some individuals to death from unfavourable mutations. Bemoaning this imperfection of nature has, however, no place in a scientific treatment of this subject.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Molecular biology is Cartesian in its inspiration.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

A majority of mutations, both those arising in laboratories and those stored in natural populations, produce deteriorations of... viability, hereditary disease and monstrosities. Such changes it would seem, can hardly serve as evolutionary building blocks.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

I venture another, and perhaps equally reckless generalization — nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution, sub specie evolutionism. If the living world has not arisen from common ancestors by means of an evolutionary process, then the fundamental unity of living things is a hoax and their diversity, a joke.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

A discovery made today may not be significant or even comprehensible by itself, but it will make sense in conjunction with what was known before.

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Born: January 25, 1900

Died: December 18, 1975 (aged 75)

Bio: Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky was a prominent American geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis.

Known for:

Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937)
Genetics of the Evolutionary Process (1970)
Mankind evolving (1962)
The Biology of Ultimate Concern (1967)

Theodosius Dobzhansky on Wikipedia

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