LANCASTER, Pa. - Geoscientist Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will visit Franklin & Marshall Monday, Nov. 12 as a Mueller Fellow. Margulis will discuss "Evolution from a Gaia Perspective," at 7:30 p.m. in the Barshinger Center for Musical Arts. The talk is free and open to the public. Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983. The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C, announced in 1998 that it will permanently archive her papers and she received the National Medal of Science in 2000 from William J. Clinton.
Margulis served as president of Sigma Xi from 2005-06 and received the Proctor Prize for scientific achievement in 1999 from this society. Prior to her move to the Botany Department at the University of Massachusetts, she was a faculty member at Boston University for 22 years. Her publications span a wide range of scientific topics and include original contributions to cell biology and microbial evolution. She probably is best known for contributions to the theory of symbiogenesis. She challenges a central tenet of neoDarwinism when she argues that significant inherited variation does not come mainly from random mutation. 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 posits, leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality.
Beyond contributions to evolution, Margulis is acknowledged for her work with James E. Lovelock on his Gaia concept. Gaia theory posits that the Earth’s surface interactions among living beings in sediment, air, and water have created a vast 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. Recent ones include Symbiotic Planet: A new look at evolution (1998), Acquiring Genomes: A theory of the origins of species (2002), co-written with Dorion Sagan, explains how symbiosis works in evolution, and Luminous Fish: Tales of science and love (2006). During past decade and a half, Margulis has co-written a number of books with Sagan, among them What is Sex? (1997), What is Life? (1995), Mystery Dance: On the evolution of human sexuality (1991), Microcosmos: Four billion years of evolution from our microbial ancestors (1986), and Origins of Sex: Three billion years of genetic recombination (1986). Her work with K. V. Schwartz (1998) that provides a consistent formal illustrated classification of all life (phyla) on Earth is in progress with the 4th edition is based on international work, encompasse4s life's immense diversity from microbes to reef-building corals. The logical basis for it is summarized in her single-authored book Symbiosis in Cell Evolution: Microbial communities in the Archean and Proterozoic Eons (2nd edition, 1993). The bacterial origins of both chloroplasts and mitochondria are established. She works now with a few close colleagues on the origin of cilia from spirochetes. The Mueller Fellowship was established in 1981 by Mrs. Paul A. Mueller, Paul A. Mueller Jr., and John C. Mueller, to bring distinguished men and women to campus each year to add significantly to the quality and character of the liberal arts education offered to F&M students. A major goal of the Mueller Fellowship program is to enable students to interact with men and women of distinction and significance in the larger world.
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