G. Ledyard Stebbins

This article is about the botanist George Ledyard Stebbins. For the American gospel song writer, see George Coles Stebbins.
G. Ledyard Stebbins
ForMemRS
Born
George Ledyard Stebbins Jr.

(1906-01-06)January 6, 1906
Lawrence, New York
DiedJanuary 19, 2000(2000-01-19) (aged 94)
Davis, California
EducationCate School, Carpinteria, California; Harvard University (Ph.D. 1931); UC Berkeley
Known forVariation and Evolution in Plants
Awards
Scientific career
InstitutionsUC Davis
Academic advisorsMerritt Lyndon Fernald, E. C. Jeffrey, Karl Sax
Author abbrev. (botany)Stebbins

George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. (January 6, 1906 – January 19, 2000) was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century.[1] Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University in 1931. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics.

His most important publication was Variation and Evolution in Plants, which combined genetics and Darwin's theory of natural selection to describe plant speciation. It is regarded as one of the main publications which formed the core of the modern synthesis and still provides the conceptual framework for research in plant evolutionary biology; according to Ernst Mayr, "Few later works dealing with the evolutionary systematics of plants have not been very deeply affected by Stebbins' work."[2] He also researched and wrote widely on the role of hybridization and polyploidy in speciation and plant evolution; his work in this area has had a lasting influence on research in the field.

From 1960, Stebbins was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Genetics at the University of California, Davis, and was active in numerous organizations involved in the promotion of evolution, and of science in general. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society,[3][4] was awarded the National Medal of Science, and was involved in the development of evolution-based science programs for California high schools, as well as the conservation of rare plants in that state.

  1. ^ Yoon C. K. January 21, 2000. Ledyard Stebbins, 94, Dies; Applied Evolution to Plants. New York Times, Section B, Page 9
  2. ^ Mayr, Ernst. "Botany: Introduction" in The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology, Ernst Mayr and William Provine, editors. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998. p. 138. Regarding the synthesis: "More than anything else, it was Stebbins' book, Variation and Evolution in Plants (1950), that brought botany into the synthesis. It had the same impact in botany as Dobzhansky's book in population genetics, integrating the widely scattered literature of plant evolution and providing abundant suggestions for further research."
  3. ^ "G. Ledyard Stebbins". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  4. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-11-23.