Evolution, by its very nature, is a dynamic process. But just as fluid are humankind’s efforts to understand, describe, and conceptualize that process. Out went Lamarck, in came Darwin. Mendel’s insights set the rules for genetic inheritance, then certain exceptions to Mendel’s rules materialized. So forth and so on.
The most recent, broadly recognized codification of evolutionary theory is known as the Modern Synthesis. After nearly 3 decades of theorizing, experimentation, and writing by paragons of evolutionary thought—Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright, to name but a few—British biologist Julian Huxley cemented the term in 1942 with the publication of his book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis. The theoretical framework brought Darwin’s ideas into the 20th century and married them to the gene’s-eye-view of biology that was emerging at the start of the century, with the rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s inheritance research.
Do Complex Orgs ...
