Sharp Pencil Distinguished Geneticist Richard C. Lewontin Dies At 92

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Dr. Lewontin marveled at the harmfulness of sexism, including among his so-called noble peers. “When talking to academic audiences about the biological determination of social status, I repeatedly tried the experiment of asking the crowd if they believed blacks were genetically inferior to whites,” he wrote.

“No one raises their hand,” he continued. “Later, when I ask them if they believe men are biologically superior to women in analytical and mathematical abilities, there will always be a few volunteers. It is a strict taboo to openly admit biological racism, but admitting biological sexism is tolerated as a little stupidity.”

Dr. Lewontin has also criticized the adaptive view of evolution – the idea that everything we see in nature evolves for a reason, and biologists have predicted it. Collaborated with a colleague from Harvard, Stephen Jay Gould’s photo.on a famous article called “San Marco’s Columns and the Pangloss Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.”

They argued that many seemingly important features may have arisen by chance, as a result of other accompanying features – just as the corners or the gaps above the arches in the dome of San Marco were not put there to be richly decorated, for you cannot make a dome without brackets. However, Dr. Lewontin finally got Dr. Because of what he saw as Gould’s thirst for fame, Dr. He lost faith in Gould.

Dr. Another old friend of Lewontin’s, Dr. Her breakup with Wilson proved to be more harrowing and long-lasting. Dr. Lewontin in 1975. He attacked Wilson’s 700-page blockbuster “Sociobiology: A New Synthesis” as the work of a modern, industrial Western “ideologist.” Inspired by this and similar criticisms, a group of demonstrators met with Dr. He poured a bucket of water on Wilson’s head.

The illness persisted for years, but friends said the two men had recently reconciled with a handshake and were worthy foes to each other.

More recently, Dr. Lewontin entered the field of evolutionary psychology. “A waste of time,” he said. “It’s not science to me.” One of the urchins of the discipline is the notion that men are innately prone to go astray and will spread their seeds with as many attractive young partners as they can get. Dr. While Lewontin admitted that the anecdote was not evidence, he said he did not strictly follow the EP male scenario. He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Jane Christianson, at the age of 18, ate lunch with him every day, recited poetry with him at night, held hands with him at the movies, and died just three days after that.

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