Ernst Mayr - A history of the basic concepts in the field of biology (125/150)

To listen to more of Ernst Meyer’s stories, go to the playlist:    • Ernst Mayr - Early life and education (1/150)   US-German biologist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005) was a leader in evolutionary biology, gaining a PhD at 21. In his seminal work 'Systematics and Origin of the Species' considered as one of his greatest works, he integrated the theories of Darwin and Mendel. [Listener: Walter J Bock; date recorded: 1997] TRANSCRIPT: From the beginning to the end of the book it is a history of the basic concepts in the field of biology. Now, I felt qualified to do with three major branches of biology, namely, the first one being field of systematics; the second one being the field of… transmission genetics; and the third one being the field of evolution… evolution of biology. And those are the three parts of biology that I deal with in my 1982 book, and I have in… all the way through attempted to go back to the primary sources, read things that literally nobody ever reads because they always go back only to the secondary sources. And, for instance, I went back to the writings of [Friedrich] Miescher, the fellow who discovered DNA in 1869, and I found all sorts of things about Miescher that were very interesting and that you do not find in any of the histories of the discovery of DNA written by [RC] Olby and various other people who've written books on this subject. The point being, Miescher, of course, wrote in German and most people don't read German any more. But… I, as I said, I tried, if possible… for instance, French authors I also… I always went back to the original French texts in my analysis.