Answer: A combination of scientists including Fisher, Haldane, Dobzhansky, Mayr, Simpson who synthesized Darwinian selection with Mendelian genetics in the 1930s-1940s.
- A Lamarck alone, through his early theory describing inheritance of acquired characteristics observed in giraffes and similar animals in general practice as frequently described
- B A combination of scientists including Fisher, Haldane, Dobzhansky, Mayr, Simpson who synthesized Darwinian selection with Mendelian genetics in the 1930s-1940s
- C Watson and Crick alone, through their landmark 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule in most textbook accounts during normal conditions
- D Mendel alone, through his original hybridization experiments conducted on garden pea plants in nineteenth-century Austria as generally observed in typical laboratory settings
Correct answer: B. A combination of scientists including Fisher, Haldane, Dobzhansky, Mayr, Simpson who synthesized Darwinian selection with Mendelian genetics in the 1930s-1940s
Explanation: Modern synthesis (neo-Darwinism, 1930s-1940s): integration of Darwin's natural selection with Mendel's genetics and population genetics. Key figures: R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane (mathematics of selection), Sewall Wright (genetic drift), Theodosius Dobzhansky (Drosophila genetics), Ernst Mayr (species concepts), George Gaylord Simpson (paleontology). It remains the foundation of modern evolutionary biology.
A simple phylogenetic tree: a common ancestor branches into several descendant lineages over time, with each branch point marking a speciation event.
Concept context
Origin of life, Darwin's theory, natural selection, speciation, and evidence for evolution.