The Grand Old Man of Evolution:
An Interview with
Evolutionary Biologist Ernst Mayr

by Michael Shermer and Frank J. Sulloway,
first published in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 8 No. 1, in 2000

Ernst Mayr was born in Kempten, Germany, on July 5th, 1904, making him, at age 95, the grand old man of evolutionary biology, one of the primary architects of the modern synthesis of genetic and evolutionary theory, and arguably one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. His career interests have spanned a remarkable five different fields, including:

1. ornithology
2. systematics
3. zoogeography
4. evolutionary theory, and
5. philosophy and history of science.

Although Mayr is less well-known to the general public than Richard Dawkins, E. O. Wilson, or Stephen Jay Gould, his impact on his science has been both deep and far-reaching, and has been appropriately honored with membership in 45 scientific societies, 14 lectureships and visiting professorships, 16 honorary degrees, (including those from such prestigious institutions as the University of Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge Universities), and 20 special awards, including the Wallace Darwin Medal of the Linnean Society in 1958, the Darwin Medal from the Royal Society in 1984, the Sarton Medal of the History of Science Society in 1986, and the Barzan Prize, the Lewis Thomas Prize, and the Crawfoord Prize in 1999. He has authored a remarkable 21 books, 13 by himself, four co-authored, and four edited or co-edited, many of which have become classics in the field, including:

1. Systematics and the Origin of Species (1942)
2. Animal Species and Evolution (1963)
3. The Growth of Biological Thought (1982)
4. Toward a New Philosophy of Biology (1988), and, his latest
5. This Is Biology (1997).