synthetic theory of evolution

The rediscovery in 1900 of Mendel’s theory of heredity, by the Dutch botanist and geneticist Hugo de Vries and others, led to an emphasis on the role of heredity in evolution. De Vries proposed a new theory of evolution known as mutationism, which…

…of the founders of the synthetic theory of evolution (see above Form and function), especially the Ukrainian-born American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–75) and the German-born American biologist Ernst Mayr (1904–2005). However, it encounters difficulties with asexual organisms and with individual

…fact the formulators of the synthetic theory of evolution used population genetics in a very casual and non-formal way to achieve their ends. As an ornithologist and systematicist, Ernst Mayr, in his Systematics and the Origin of Species (1942), hardly thought of his work as deducible from the principles of…

With the development of the synthetic theory of evolution in the early 20th century, classification and phylogeny-tracing ceased to be pursued for their own sake, but the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of classification, known as systematics, became a topic of great interest.

…formulating and applying the modern synthetic theory of evolution to higher organisms. This theory distinguishes the basic processes of gene mutation and recombination, natural selection, changes in structure and number of chromosomes, and reproductive isolation. The publication of his Variation and Evolution in Plants (1950) established Stebbins as one of…