Modern Evolutionary Synthesis
Following the development, from about 1937 to 1950, of the modern evolutionary synthesis, now generally referred to as the synthetic view of evolution or the modern synthesis, the term neo-Darwinian is often used to refer to contemporary evolutionary theory. However, such usage has been described by some as incorrect; with Ernst Mayr writing in 1984:
"...the term neo-Darwinism for the synthetic theory is wrong, because the term neo-Darwinism was coined by Romanes in 1895 as a designation of Weismann's theory."Despite this, publications such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, use this term to refer to current evolutionary theory. This term is also used in the scientific literature, with the academic publishers Blackwell Publishing referring to "neo-Darwinism as practised today", and some figures in the study of evolution like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould, using the term in their writings and lectures.
Read more about this topic: Neo-Darwinism
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