G. Ledyard Stebbins

George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr (6 January 1906 – 19 January 2000) was an American botanist and geneticist. He was one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century.^[1] Stebbins received his PhD in botany from Harvard University in 1931. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work led to a synthesis of plant evolution and genetics.

His most important publication was Variation and evolution in plants, which combined genetics and Darwin's theory of natural selection to describe plant speciation. It helped form the modern evolutionary synthesis, and still provides the framework for research in plant evolutionary biology. According to Ernst Mayr, "Few later works dealing with the evolutionary systematics of plants have not been very deeply affected by Stebbins' work".^[2]

"More than anything else, it was Stebbins' book, Variation and evolution in plants, that brought botany into the synthesis. It had the same impact in botany as Dobzhansky's book in population genetics, integrating the widely scattered literature of plant evolution and providing abundant suggestions for further research".^[2]

He also researched and wrote widely on the role of hybridization and polyploidy in speciation and plant evolution; his work in this area has had a lasting influence on research in the field.

Stebbins was elected to the National Academy of Science, was awarded the National Medal of Science. He was involved in the development of evolution-based science programs for California high schools, as well as the conservation of rare plants in that state.

1. ↑ Yoon C.K. January 21 2000. Ledyard Stebbins, 94, dies; applied evolution to plants. New York Times, Section B, Page 9
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Mayr, Ernst. 1988. "Botany: Introduction" in The evolutionary synthesis: perspectives on the unification of biology, Ernst Mayr and William Provine, editors. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p138.