| Leigh Maiorana Van Valen | |
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Van Valen in 1981 |
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| Born | August 12, 1935 Albany, New York |
| Died | October 16, 2010 (aged 75) Chicago, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Evolutionary biologist |
| Known for | Red Queen's Hypothesis |
Leigh Maiorana Van Valen (August 12, 1935 - October 16, 2010) was an American evolutionary biologist. He was professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago.
Amongst other work, Van Valen's proposed "Law of Extinction" drew upon the apparent constant probability (as opposed to rate) of extinction in families of related organisms, based on data compiled from existing literature on the duration of tens of thousands of genera throughout the fossil record. Van Valen proposed the Red Queen's Hypothesis (1973), as an explanatory tangent to the Law of Extinction. The Red Queen's Hypothesis captures the idea that there is a constant 'arms race' between co-evolving species. Its name is a reference to the Red Queen's race in Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass, in which the chess board moves such that Alice must continue running just to stay in the same place.[1]
Van Valen also defined the Ecological Species Concept in 1976, in contrast to Ernst Mayr's Biological Species Concept. In 1991, he proposed that HeLa cells be defined as a new species, which was named Helacyton gartleri.[1]
Van Valen originated the concept of fuzzy sets, prior to the formalization of this concept by L.A. Zadeh .
He had deep understanding of many fields outside of biology, including measure theory, probability theory, logic, thermodynamics, epistemology and the philosophy of science. It is widely thought that the unusual breadth and depth of his knowledge contributed to his great originality in the field of biology and elsewhere.
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He was born in Albany, New York. He earned a zoology degree at age 20 in 1955 from Miami University in Ohio. He attended Columbia University and studied under George Gaylord Simpson and Theodosius Dobzhansky.
Van Valen married Phebe May Hoff, but they divorced in 1984.[1]
He died on October 16, 2010 of pneumonia at St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center in Chicago, Illinois. Van Valen had been hospitalized for more than three months from a rare form of slowly progressing leukemia.[2]
On the University of Chicago website for the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, Van Valen had written and posted this about himself:
I am a generalist and tend to open new approaches more than fill them in. What I work on changes irregularly and unpredictably with the progress of theory and knowledge. I am currently writing a book that expands on my perspective (the Red Queen’s hypothesis) of trophic energy as a major controller of evolution and ecology. Some recent topics: (1) The evolution of biotas can be approached through changes in patterns of energy flow and their control. I am looking at the basal Cenozoic radiation of placental mammals from this perspective; there are surprisingly large changes in the group selection causing the changes, and in its components; (2) Single-species populations of birds decrease in density with body size at the same rate as the total energy flow through single individuals increases. A student found a similar pattern for mammals. This implies a community regulation of absolute fitnesses, if one accepts my heretical (ecological) view of the nature of fitness; (3)The actual levels of selection in the current rapid evolution of our own species differ from standard concepts and are generalizable; (4) Charles Lyell used (real) species selection before Darwin. Work of my students has also been diverse. Some examples: norm of reaction, biogeography, fossil mammals, mathematical anthropological genetics, complexity, body size, human sociobiology, developmental noise, sloth limbs, natural selection, allometry. My interests go beyond what the blurb indicates.[3]
Publications include: