Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy (eBook)

Jürgen Haffer was born in 1932. He majored in geology and paleontology obtaining a PhD degree at the University of Göttingen in 1957. He became an exploration geologist and lived in South and North America, Iran, Egypt, and Norway. During these assignments he studied the bird faunas of Amazonia and Iran and has been in close communication with Ernst Mayr since the early 1960s. He also co-published a biography of Erwin Stresemann, Mayr’s teacher and friend in Berlin, Germany.

Preface 6
Contents 8
Introduction 11
Part I The Young Naturalist in Germany 15
Childhood and Youth 17
The Budding Scientist 44
Part II Ornithologist and Evolutionist in New York 101
The New York Years (1931–1953) 102
Ornithologist and Zoogeographer 147
Biological Species and Speciation— Mayr’s First Synthesis 190
Life in North America duringWorld War II 249
Part III Professor of Zoology at Harvard University 260
The Harvard Years (1953–2005) 261
Evolutionary Biology— Mayr’s Second Synthesis 272
Ernst Mayr—the Man 289
Systematics and Classification 326
History and Philosophy of Biology— Mayr’s Third Synthesis 344
Summary: Appreciation of Ernst Mayr’s Science 381
Acknowledgments 388
List of Abbreviations 390
References 391
Part IV Appendices 405
Appendix 1 Curriculum Vitae ( including honorary degrees, honorarymemberships, medals, and other special awards) 406
Appendix 2 Bibliography of Ernst Mayr 411
Appendix 3 Subject Analysis of Ernst Mayr’s Publications 461
Index 464