American Biologist and Ornithologist 1904-

Ernst Mayr, one of the cofounders of the "Modern Synthesis" in evolutionary biology (along with Theodosius Dobzhansky, George Gaylord Simpson, and G. Ledyard Stebbins), is a naturalized American citizen born in Kempten, Germany. The Modern Synthesis sought to integrate Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection with the recent development of population genetics by R. A. Fisher, Sewall Wright, and J. B. S. Haldane.

Ernst Mayr attempted to synthesize the natural selection theory and population genetics.

Mayr showed an ardent interest in birds from an early age and took only eighteen months to complete his doctoral program in ornithology at the Berlin Natural History Museum (1926). In 1928 he began leading a series of ornithological expeditions to New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands. His field guides to the birds of these areas continue to be used by scholars of ornithology.

After his...