WORLD VIEWS IN COLLISION: THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN JOHN GREENE AND ERNST MAYR (1959-2005) By STEWART EDWARD KREITZER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Stewart Edward Kreitzer 2 To everyone I have had an opportunity to learn from along the path. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the faculty and staff of the University of Florida History Department, especially Betty Smocovitis, Fred Gregory, and Bob Hatch, my professors in the History of Science, as well as committee members, Sean Adams and Rebecca Kimball. In particular I wish to acknowledge Betty Smocovitis, who served as chair for my committee, for all her assistance and encouragement; she has been extraordinarily patient. In addition, I would like to offer my appreciation to the archivists and librarians at the University of Connecticut Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, The Harvard University Library Archives, and Harvard’s Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. In particular I would like to offer a special thanks to Betsy Pitman, UConn’s University Archivist responsible for the Greene Papers, and Mayr Sears, Head of Public Services/Reference at the Ernst Mayr Library. I would also like to offer a special thanks to Dr. Walter Bock, Columbia University Professor of Evolutionary Biology and former graduate student of Ernst Mayr, who graciously spent his afternoon sharing his thoughts and perspectives with me about Mayr as well as John Greene, who he worked with organizing Mayr’s festschrift seminar at the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology meetings held at Brandeis University in 1993 and published the following year in Biology and Philosophy. And foremost, I would like to thank John C. Greene for inviting me to participate with him in two sets of interviews held in 2007 and 2008 at his home near Monterey, California, during which he shared his recollections of his productive career and long relationship with Ernst Mayr. At the same time, I would like to offer an all-encompassing “thank you” to all those who offered advice and encouragement. Specifically I would like to recognize Ken Solomon, Kathryn Bellach, Eric Bernasek, Chris Beetle, Tom Guild, the hospitality of Howard Brown, the Marks 4 family, Frank and Joni Lenna, and especially my daughter Jessica Kreitzer, my father Sidney Kreitzer, and his wife Judy. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................9 2 GOING FOR THE BIRDS: MAYR’S FORMATIVE YEARS IN GERMANY...................24 Family and Education .............................................................................................................24 Birds and Bicycles ..................................................................................................................34 Bird Clubbing, and a Well-Cooked Carp ...............................................................................36 A Fortuitous Red Duck Leads Young Mayr to Germany’s Leading Ornithologist ...............40 Birding in the South Pacific ....................................................................................................51 Mayr and the Missionaries ......................................................................................................59 Sailing the South Seas ............................................................................................................64 3 THE DARWIN OF THE 20TH CENTURY: MAYR AND HIS CAREER IN EVOLUTION .........................................................................................................................69 The American Museum of Natural History ............................................................................69 Birding in the USA .................................................................................................................77 A Turn to Evolution ................................................................................................................87 The Founding of the Society for the Study of Evolution........................................................98 The Biology of Birds Takes Flight; Mayr Migrates North ...................................................102 The Harvard Professorship, Mr. Darwin’s Birthday, and an Eastern Expedition ................111 Ernst Goes to India ...............................................................................................................124 4 THE MAKING OF “A HISTORIAN’S HISTORIAN OF SCIENCE”: JOHN C. GREENE* .............................................................................................................................132 It’s All in the Family .............................................................................................................134 Belle & Edward & Harvard & Helen ...................................................................................138 Home on the Prairie: Vermillion, South Dakota ..................................................................142 Life Among The Coyotes .....................................................................................................149 The Advisor Professor Josey ................................................................................................151 Bert James Loewenberg and Mr. Darwin .............................................................................155 Harvard and The Society of Fellows ....................................................................................159 Spanning the Globe with Uncle Sam ....................................................................................166 Back in the U.S.A. ................................................................................................................176 6 5 CORRESPONDING COLLEAGUES: MAYR AND GREENE .........................................189 Greene Tackles “Progress” ...................................................................................................193 Dobzhansky and Greene: Making Sense of Evolution .........................................................198 Disciplinary Boundaries .......................................................................................................209 Darwin & Spencer: As Seen by Harris, Freeman, Mayr, Greene, et al. ...............................215 Common Grounds .................................................................................................................224 On The History of Biological Revolutions ...........................................................................227 Anthropology, Ideology, and World View ...........................................................................232 Simpson, Ideology, and World View ...................................................................................234 A Response from G. G. Simpson ..........................................................................................241 6 WORLD VIEWS IN COLLISION .......................................................................................249 The Correspondence Thickens .............................................................................................249 Mayr’s Critique of Greene’s Science, Ideology, and World View .......................................254 Mayr’s Recommendation ......................................................................................................260 From Huxley to Huxley: “Transformations in the Darwinian Credo” .................................264 The Growth of Biological Thought ......................................................................................277 The International Congress of History of Science at Berkeley ............................................286 Jacques Roger and the Revue de Synthèse ............................................................................293 Roger Recruits Mayr .............................................................................................................297 Moving Towards Publication ...............................................................................................305 The Revue in Print ................................................................................................................307 Two Old Intellectual Troopers..............................................................................................312 Happy Birthday Ernst ...........................................................................................................322 7 UNDERSTANDING THE EXCHANGE AND SUMMING IT ALL UP ...........................329 APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL GREENE FAMILY HISTORY* ..................................................353 The Treat Family of Helen Carter Greene ............................................................................355 Greene’s Green Family Ancestry .........................................................................................359 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................374