Elisabeth Vrba
Elisabeth Vrba | |
|---|---|
| Vrba in 2009 | |
| Born | (1942年05月27日)May 27, 1942 |
| Died | February 5, 2025(2025年02月05日) (aged 82) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Cape Town |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Paleontology |
| Institutions | Yale University |
Elisabeth S. Vrba (May 27, 1942 – February 5, 2025) was an American paleontologist at Yale University who developed the turnover-pulse hypothesis.
Background
[edit ]Vrba earned her Ph.D. in Zoology and Palaeontology at the University of Cape Town, in 1974. Vrba studied zoology and mathematical statistics at the University of Cape Town to earn her undergraduate degree. She remained there for doctoral study in zoology and paleontology to earn her Ph.D. After receiving her doctorate, Vrba conducted her early research on African fossil records over the last several million years, tracking the sequence of fossils from analyzing the geological strata and analyzing the morphology of the fossils.[1] She was the chief assistant to Charles Kimberlin Brain during his directorship of the Transvaal Museum.[2]
Vrba died in New Haven, Connecticut, on February 5, 2025, at the age of 82.[3]
Career
[edit ]Vrba was a faculty member at the Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, from the early 1980s.[4] [unreliable source? ] She is well known for developing the turnover-pulse hypothesis, as well as coining the word exaptation with colleague Stephen Jay Gould. Her specific interest was in the Family Bovidae (antelopes, etc.), but her students studied a wide range of species.
Innovations
[edit ]Vrba and colleague Stephen Jay Gould are renowned for having proposed the term exaptation . Vrba and Gould's research suggested that the historical origin of a genetic or morphological trait is not always reflective of its contemporary function — genesis and current function should not be conflated. Genetic or morphological adaptations may take on new functions and may serve a species a different purpose further on in evolution. Gould died in 2002,[5] but their coined term has been widely referenced in recent years in popular science writing.[6] [7] Vrba and Gould's idea of exaptation has also been criticized in recent years by scholars who assert that genetic traits are pressured by multiple factors, making it challenging to determine when adaptation or exaptation is at play.[8]
Vrba also constructed the Turnover-pulse hypothesis, a significant addition to macroevolutionary theory.
Selected publications
[edit ]- Gould, S. J. and E. S. Vrba. (1982). "Exaptation—a missing term in the science of form." Paleobiology 8: 4-15.
- Katherine MacInnes. "Evolving Vocabulary: the rise and fall of 'exaptation'" International Innovation, September 18, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20160825224345/http://www.internationalinnovation.com/evolving-vocabulary-the-rise-and-fall-of-exaptation/.
- Lewis, R. "Surveying the Genomic Landscape of Modern Mammals," DNA Science Blog, January 29, 2015. http://blogs.plos.org/dnascience/2015/01/29/probing-genomic-landscape-modern-mammals/. Archived 2018年01月08日 at the Wayback Machine
- Michael Garfield. "Exaptation of the Guitar" Guitar International, September 17, 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20130622042448/http://guitarinternational.com/2010/09/17/exaptation-of-the-guitar/.
- Rozzi, Roberto. "Elisabeth Vrba | TrowelBlazers." trowelblazers.com. 2014. Accessed October 17, 2015. http://trowelblazers.com/elisabeth-vrba/.
- Shapiro, J. "More Evidence on the Real Nature of Evolutionary DNA Change," Huffington Post, The Blog, June 1, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-a-shapiro/more-evidence-on-the-real_b_1158228.html.
- Shell, E. R. (1999). "Waves of Creation." Discover 14 (May): 54-61.
- Vrba, E. S. and Gould, S. J. (1986). "The hierarchical expansion of sorting and selection." Paleobiology. 12 (2): 217-228. doi:10.1017/S0094837300013671
- Vrba, E. S. (1993). "The Pulse That Produced Us." Natural History 102 (5) 47-51.
References
[edit ]- ^ Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2002). International encyclopedia of women scientists . New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0816043817. OCLC 45835614.
- ^ The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin, Picador, 1988, pp. 271-2
- ^ "Obituary: Elisabeth Vrba, the musketeer of macroevolution". Pikaia. 15 February 2025. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
- ^ Yount, Lisa (2007). A to Z of Women in Science and Math Revised Edition (Rev. ed.). New York: Infobase Pub. pp. 305–306. ISBN 978-1438107950.
- ^ "Remembering Stephen Jay Gould | Natural History Magazine". www.naturalhistorymag.com. Retrieved 2018年01月08日.
- ^ "Surveying the Genomic Landscape of Modern Mammals | DNA Science Blog". DNA Science Blog. 2015年01月29日. Archived from the original on 2018年01月08日. Retrieved 2018年01月08日.
- ^ Shapiro, James A. (2012年01月06日). "More Evidence on the Real Nature of Evolutionary DNA Change". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018年01月08日.
- ^ Innovation, International. "Thank you - International Innovation". International Innovation. Archived from the original on 2016年08月25日. Retrieved 2018年01月08日.
- 1942 births
- 2025 deaths
- American paleontologists
- Paleozoologists
- American women paleontologists
- American taxonomists
- Women taxonomists
- Yale University faculty
- University of Cape Town alumni
- 20th-century American zoologists
- 21st-century American zoologists
- 20th-century American women scientists
- 21st-century American women scientists
- American women academics