Search Results - Lewontin, Richard 1929-2021

Richard Lewontin

Richard Charles Lewontin (March 29, 1929 – July 4, 2021) was an American evolutionary biologist, mathematician, geneticist, and social commentator. A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, he applied techniques from molecular biology, such as gel electrophoresis, to questions of genetic variation and evolution. He was a self-described Marxist.

In a pair of seminal 1966 papers co-authored with J. L. Hubby in the journal ''Genetics'', Lewontin helped set the stage for the modern field of molecular evolution. In 1979, he and Stephen Jay Gould introduced the term "spandrel" into evolutionary theory. From 1973 to 1998, he held an endowed chair in zoology and biology at Harvard University, and from 2003 until his death in 2021 he was a research professor there.

From a sociological perspective, Lewontin strongly opposed genetic determinism and neodarwinism as expressed in the fields of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.

Previously, as a member of Science for the People, he denounced the involvement of prominent scientists in Pentagon programs aimed at developing weapons for the Vietnam War. From the 1990s, he condemned the lobbying of GMOs by the "genetic–industrial complex". Provided by Wikipedia