Genetics and The Origin of Species

Genetics and the Origin of Species is a 1937 book by the Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky. It is regarded as one of the most important works of the modern evolutionary synthesis. The book popularized the work of population genetics to other biologists, and influenced their appreciation for the genetic basis of evolution.

Through his work on the Drosophila pseudoobscura he was able to identify that some populations of this species did not have identical sets of genes. Dobzhansky used experimental breeding in laboratories and gardens, and also surveys related to species in nature to help support the aspects of organic evolution. The data in his book shows the different genetic mutations and chromosomal changes that were observed. All of the results from his experiments support the theory of modern evolutionary synthesis.

Overall Genetics and the Origin of Species shows the importance how genes, mutations, and chromosomal changes influence evolution. The idea of isolation is also described in his work and how it is important for the establishment and maintenance of species and populations in nature.

For Genetics and the Origin of Species Dobzhansky was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1941. Sixty years after its publication, the National Academy of Sciences commissioned a book entitled Genetics and the Origin of Species: From Darwin to Molecular Biology 60 Years After Dobzhansky.

It was also included in the 1990 edition of Great Books of the Western World, placing it with Charles Darwin's two great works The Origin of Species and the Descent of Man. A third edition was published in 1951.