Evolution: The Modern Synthesis facts for kids
Evolution: The Modern Synthesis is a very important book written by Julian Huxley. It was published in 1942. This book gave its name to a big idea in biology called the modern evolutionary synthesis. It was one of the most important books about biology in the middle of the 20th century.
How the Book Came About
Julian Huxley was a key person in creating the new evolutionary synthesis. This big scientific idea came together around the time of World War II.
Scientists like Berry and Bradshaw (1992) said that setting up the 'neo-Darwinian synthesis' was a very important time for understanding evolution. Ernst Mayr (1980) explained that this synthesis happened because scientists shared their best ideas. It wasn't about one side being completely right and others wrong.
Early Ideas and Tests
Huxley first explored the idea of evolution in a book called Science of Life (1929–30). Later, in 1936, he wrote a long and important paper for the British Science Association. In 1938, he published three detailed reviews on major topics in evolution.
Two of these papers were about sexual selection. This is an idea from Charles Darwin that has become important again recently. Sexual selection is when animals choose mates based on certain traits. Huxley believed that sexual selection was just a part of natural selection. He thought this partly because of his studies on birds like the Great Crested Grebe. These birds often do their fancy courtship displays after they have already chosen a mate, not before.
Images for kids
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The first edition of the book, published by George Allen & Unwin.
See also
In Spanish: Evolución: la síntesis moderna para niños
