Abstract
Starting from the early decades of the twentieth century, evolutionary biology began to acquire mathematical overtones. This took place via the development of a set of models in which the Darwinian picture of evolution was shown to be consistent with the laws of heredity discovered by Mendel. The models, which came to be elaborated over the years, define a field of study known as population genetics. Population genetics is generally looked upon as an essential component of modern evolutionary theory. This article deals with a famous dispute between J. B. S. Haldane, one of the founders of population genetics, and Ernst Mayr, a major contributor to the way we understand evolution. The philosophical undercurrents of the dispute remain relevant today. Mayr and Haldane agreed that genetics provided a broad explanatory framework for explaining how evolution took place but differed over the relevance of the mathematical models that sought to underpin that framework. The dispute began with a fundamental issue raised by Mayr in 1959: in terms of understanding evolution, did population genetics contribute anything beyond the obvious? Haldane’s response came just before his death in 1964. It contained a spirited defense, not just of population genetics, but also of the motivations that lie behind mathematical modelling in biology. While the difference of opinion persisted and was not glossed over, the two continued to maintain cordial personal relations.
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Acknowledgements
V. R. is grateful to a number of people for their help and assistance. First, to Prof. Ernst Mayr for his encouragement, willingness to respond to requests and enabling her to get access to the Mayr–Haldane correspondence from the Harvard University Archives; next to Ms. Barbara S. Meloni, Reference Archivist of the Pusey Library which houses the Archives; to Mrs. Lois Godfrey for permission to access the Haldane Papers at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; and to Ms. Sheila McKenzie for help in using the Papers; to Prof. Walter Bock for permitting to quote his comments on the beanbag dispute; and to Profs. Gianna Zei and Luigi DeCarli, University of Pavia, Dr. Juergen Haffer and Prof. Anya Plutynski for having kindly provided published material. Thanks are due to the Director and library staff of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, for allowing us access to their “Haldane Collection.” The anonymous reviewers of an earlier version of this manuscript are thanked for several helpful comments. This work was supported by a research fellowship from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and by the award of a travel grant under an INSA-Royal Society of London Exchange Programme, both to V. R.
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Rao, V., Nanjundiah, V. J. B. S. Haldane, Ernst Mayr and the Beanbag Genetics Dispute. J Hist Biol 44, 233–281 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-010-9229-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-010-9229-5