Isadore Nabi

Isadore Nabi (sometimes Isidore Nabi or Isador Nabi) was a pseudonym used by a group of scientists including Richard Lewontin, Richard Levins, Robert MacArthur, and Leigh van Valen in the 1960s. Inspired by the work of Nicolas Bourbaki, they allegedly hoped to create a unified approach to evolutionary biology. However, the project was aborted and the name was reused in the 1980s for satirical purposes.[1]

Nabi's biography was listed in American Men and Women of Science, articles and letters were published in prominent journals under his name, and he was listed on the editorial board of Evolutionary Theory.[2]

He has primarily written on sociobiology. His article, "An Evolutionary Interpretation of the English Sonnet" was delivered as the First Annual Piltdown Lecture on Man and Nature and appeared under the heading "Advances in Sociobiopsy". (The author was noted as a "Satirical Commentator".)[3] He has also written articles critical of the systems-theoretical approach to mathematical ecology, as illustrated by what our laws of motion in physics would look like if early physicists had used the methods of the systems ecologists (this time listing the author as "Intrepid Investigator").[4] In 2002 he published a piece (under the name "Isador Nabi") on stock tips in Gene Watch. It was identified as humor.[5]

  1. ^ van Valen, Leigh (1981-10-08). "Nabi — A life". Nature. 293 (5832): 422. Bibcode:1981Natur.293..422V. doi:10.1038/293422b0.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference lewontin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Nabi, Isadore (1980). "An Evolutionary Interpretation of the English Sonnet (First Annual Piltdown Lecture on Man and Nature)". Science and Nature (3): 70–74.
  4. ^ Nabi, Isadore (1981). "On the Tendencies of Motion". Science and Nature (4): 62–66. Reprinted in Levins, Richard; Lewontin, Richard, eds. (1985). The Dialectical Biologist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 123–127. ISBN 0-674-20283-X.
  5. ^ Nabi, Isador (January 2002). "The Nabi Newsletter: For the Investor Ahead of the Mob". GeneWatch. 15 (1). Archived from the original on October 4, 2007.