LYNN MARGULIS
Distinguished University Professor
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

[Biography | Honorary Degree]

Lynn Margulis is a distinguished university professor in the department of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and received the Presidential Medal of Science in 1999 from William J. Clinton. The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., announced in 1998 that it will permanently archive her papers. Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts in 1989, she was a faculty member at Boston University for 22 years. She is the 2005-2006 president of the Sigma Xi scientific research society.

Her publications, spanning a wide range of scientific topics, include original and revolutionary contributions to cell biology and microbial evolution.

Margulis is best known for her theory of symbiogenesis, which challenges a central tenet of neodarwinism. She argues that inherited variation, significant in evolution, does not come mainly from random mutations. Rather new tissues, organs and even new species evolve primarily through the long-lasting intimacy of strangers. The fusion of genomes in symbioses followed by natural selection, she suggests, leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality. Margulis is also acknowledged for her contribution to James E. Lovelock’s Gaia concept. Gaia theory posits that the Earth’s surface interactions among living beings, sedimentary rocks, soil, air and water created a vast ancient self-regulating system.

Margulis, who participates in hands-on teaching activities at levels from middle to graduate school, is the author of many articles and books. The most recent include Symbiotic Planet: A new look at evolution (1998) and Acquiring Genomes: A theory of the origins of species (2002), co-written with Dorion Sagan.

She was graduated from the University of Chicago (AB, liberal arts), the University of Wisconsin (MS, genetics and zoology) and the University of California, Berkeley (PhD, genetics).