Lynn Margulis (1938-2011)
November 23, 2011 in NEWS by Suzanne Elvidge
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, died on 22 November 2011, aged 73, following a stroke. Margulis developed the endosymbiotic theory of the evolution of the prokaryotic cell.
Source: University of Massachusetts Department of Geosciences
In the endosymbiotic theory of the evolution of the prokaryotic cell, chloroplasts and mitochondria originated respectively as independent photosynthetic and aerobic prokaryotic cells that were engulfed by larger host cells. The partnership became successful and the endosymbionts eventually became organelles in a prokaryotic cell surrounded by a double lipid bilayer. After a lot of rejections, the paper was published in 1967.
Margulis also worked with James Lovelock on the controversial Gaia hypothesis. She married astronomer and author Carl Sagan in 1957.
While there are critics of her theory, and some of her later ideas were startling – she was sceptical about neo-Darwinian evolution and modern evolutionary theory, and seemed to deny the role of HIV in AIDS – her breakthrough in endosymbiotic theory was revolutionary, and she inspired me as a teenage girl choosing to specialise in science and particularly biology. If science was going to be that exciting and that revolutionary, that was where I wanted to be. Thank you for that, Lynn.
Sagan, L. (1967). On the origin of mitosing cells Journal of Theoretical Biology, 14 (3) DOI: 10.1016/0022-5193(67)90079-3
Press release from the University – http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/141605.php
i agree with lynn and why cant this theory be extended even to pathogens and host cells