REMINISCENCES FROM THE FIRST CURATOR OF THE WHITNEY-ROTHSCHILD COLLECTION

Dr Ernst Mayr has been one of the seminal figures of 20th century biol ogy. His essential contributions were in the development of the Modern Synthesis in evolutionary biology. His landmark book Systematics and the Origin of Species, was published in 1942 and has long been acknowl edged as one of the key foundations of 20th century evolutionary biolo gy. In many subsequent articles and books on evolution and the history and philosophy of biology during the past half century, he has contin ued to be a key contributor of ideas and inspiration to successive gen erations of evolutionary biologists. In the first of two 'Roots' artic les, he describes the early stages of his career and the serendipitous events that furthered it. This article was first presented as a talk, on October 27, 1993, at the 50 year Jubilee celebration of the foundi ng of the Whitney wing, the ornithological section, of the American Mu seum of Natural History in New York City. In next month's 'Roots' arti cle, Dr Mayr will describe the events that led to the founding of the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1946, in St Louis, Missouri.