Richard Goldschmidt | |
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Born | Frankfurt am Main, Germany | April 12, 1878
Died | April 24, 1958 | (aged 80)
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | University of Heidelberg |
Scientific career | |
Fields | genetics |
Doctoral advisor | Otto Bütschli |
Richard Benedict Goldschmidt (April 12, 1878 – April 24, 1958) was a German geneticist. He is considered the first to attempt to integrate genetics, development, and evolution.[1] He pioneered understanding of reaction norms, genetic assimilation, dynamical genetics, sex determination, and heterochrony.[2] Controversially, Goldschmidt advanced a model of macroevolution through macromutations popularly known as the "Hopeful Monster" hypothesis.[3]
Goldschmidt also described the nervous system of the nematode, a piece of work that influenced Sydney Brenner to study the "wiring diagram" of Caenorhabditis elegans,[4] winning Brenner and his colleagues the Nobel Prize in 2002.