Figure 1: Ernst Mayr in 1994, after receiving an honorary degree at the University of Konstanz. In a 1959 address to Cold Spring Harbor Mayr remarked that, “The emphasis in early population genetics was on the frequency of genes and on the control of this frequency by mutation, selection, and random events. Each gene was essentially treated as an independent unit favored or discriminated against by various causal factors….Evolutionary change was essentially presented as an input or output of genes, as in the adding of certain beans to a bean- bag and the withdrawing of others” Image source Meyer A. (2005). “On the Importance of Being Ernst Mayr”. PLoS Biology 3 (5): e152. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030152 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.