Awards & Winners

G. Ledyard Stebbins

Date of Birth 06-January-1906
Place of Birth Lawrence
(United States of America, New York, St. Lawrence County)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as G. Stebbins
Profession Botanist, Author
George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University in 1931. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating 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 is regarded as one of the main publications which formed the core of the modern evolutionary synthesis and still provides the conceptual 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." 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.

Awards by G. Ledyard Stebbins

Check all the awards nominated and won by G. Ledyard Stebbins.

1983


Nominations 1983 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
National Book Award for Science (Paperback) Darwin to DNA, molecules to humanity

1979


National Medal of Science for Biological Sciences
(For his outstanding contributions to the synthesis of an evolutionary theory, particularly as it applies to plants.)