Theodosius Dobzhansky

Mosaic on the ground Jordan Hall of Science of the University of Notre Dame, with the legend «"Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" Theodosius Dobzhansky 1972»

Feodosi Grigorievich Dobzhansky (Russian: Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975), also known as Theodosius Dobzhansky, was a leading Ukrainian-American geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work shaping the modern evolutionary synthesis. Dobzhanski was born in Nemirov, in the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) and immigrated to the United States in 1927, at age 27. Great-grandson of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

His studies in population genetics, carried out mainly with the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), helped him to enunciate his famous phrase: "Nothing makes sense in biology if it is not in light of evolution".

Work

Books

• 1937 Genetics and the origin of species. Columbia University Press, New York. (2nd ed. 1941; 3rd ed. 1951)
• 1954. The biological basis of human freedom
• With Dunn, L. C. 1946. Heredity, race, " society. The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., NY
• 1955. Evolution, genetics, & man. Wiley & Sons, New York
• 1962. Mankind evolving. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut
• 1967. The biology of ultimate concern. New American Library, New York
• 1970. Genetics of the evolutionary process. Columbia University Press, New York
• 1973. Genetic diversity " human equality "
• With F.J. Ayala, G.L. Stebbins and J.W. Valentine. 1977. Evolution. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco
• 1981. R.C. Lewontin, J.A. Moore, W.B. Provine and B. Wallace (eds.) Dobzhansky's Genetics of Natural Populations I-XLIII. Columbia University Press, NY.
• F. J. Ayala, T. G. Dobzhansky, ed. (1974). Studies in the Philosophy of Biology: Reduction and Related Problems. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520026490.

Articles

• 1973. «Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution». The American Biology Teacher, 35: (March): 125-129.
• With O. Pavlovsky. 1957. «An experimental study of genetic interaction between drift and natural selection». Evolution, 11: 311-319.

Editions in Spanish

• Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1978). Genetic diversity and human equality. Editorial Labor. ISBN 978-84-335-2416-4.
• Dobzhansky, Theodosius; Ayala, F.J.; Stebbins, G.L. and Valentine, J. W. (1979). Evolution. Omega Editions. ISBN 978-84-282-0568-9.
• Ayala, Francisco J.; Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1983). Studies on the philosophy of biology. Editorial Ariel. ISBN 978-84-344-8008-7.
• Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1997). Genetics and the origin of species. Reader circle. ISBN 978-84-226-5641-8.

Abbreviation (zoology)

The abbreviation Dobzhansky is used to indicate Theodosius Dobzhansky as an authority on description and taxonomy in zoology.

Additional bibliography

• Mark B. Adams, ed. (2014). The Evolution of Theodosius Dobzhansky: Essays on His Life and Thought in Russia and America. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400863808.