He was born in Kempten[?], Germany.
As a traditionally trained biologist with little mathematical experience, Mayr was often highly criticial of early mathematical approaches to evolution such as those of J. B. S. Haldane, famously calling in 1959 such approaches "bean bag genetics". He continues to reject the view that evolution is the mere change of gene frequencies in populations, maintaining that other factors such as reproductive isolations have to be taken into acccount. In a similar fashion Mayr is also to this day quite critical of molecular evolutionary studies such as those of Carl Woese.
In many of his writings, Mayr has rejected reductionism in evolutionary biology, arguing that evolutionary pressures act on the whole organism, not on single genes, and that genes can have different effects depending on the other genes present. He advocates a study of the whole genome rather than only isolated genes.
Books by Ernst Mayr include:
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