Theodosius Dobzhansky life and biography

Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis.Dobzhansky was born in Ukraine (then part of Imperial Russia) and emigrated to the United States as a young man in 1927.

He published a major work of the modern evolutionary synthesis, the synthesis of evolutionary biology with genetics, in 1937.
He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1964, and the Franklin Medal in 1973.

Dobzhansky was among the most influential geneticists of the 20th century. As a child in Russia he collected bugs, and in his early teens he was enthralled by Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. His studies of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) drew international attention, and in 1927 he came to America.

Dobzhansky defined the evolution of new species in biological terms, showing that two separated groups of a particular species became two distinct species at the point where they can no longer produce fertile offspring -- an accidental discovery, as such a split took place in his own laboratory. His 1935 book Genetics and the Origin of Species brought together Gregor Mendel's genetics and Darwin's theory of natural selection, and formed the basis for "modern synthesis" in evolutionary science.

As one of the world's most famous geneticists, he spoke out against eugenics and dismissed as silly any suggestion that genetics could justify racial bigotry. His famous 1973 essay titled "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" argued eloquently that theistic creation and evolution are not necessarily at odds.

Author of books:
-Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937)
-Heredity, Race, and Society (1946)
-Principles of Genetics (1950)
-Evolution, Genetics, and Man (1955)
-The Biological Basis of Human Freedom (1956, with Bruce Wallace)
-Radiation, Genes, and Man (1959)
-Mankind Evolving (1962)
-Heredity and the Nature of Man (1964)
-The Biology of Ultimate Concern (1967)
-Genetics of the Evolutionary Process (1970)
-Genetic Diversity and Human Equality (1973)
-Evolutionary Biology (1967, seven volumes, with Max Hecht and William Steere)
-The Roving Naturalist: Travel Letters of Theodosius Dobzhansky (1980)
-Dobehansky's Genetics of Natural Populations (1981)
-Human Culture (1983, with Ernst Boesiger)

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