American biologist and academic (died 2011)

Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary biologist, who was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis transformed and fundamentally framed biologists' understanding of the evolution of the Eukaryotes, organisms with nuclei in their cells. She proposed that they came into being by symbiotic mergers of bacteria. Margulis was the co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis with the British chemist James Lovelock, proposing that the Earth functions as a unified self-regulating system, and the principal defender and promulgator of the five kingdom classification of Robert Whittaker.

Born

1938

March 5

Died

2011

Era

1930s

Country

—

About

Lynn, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1938 Born
2011 Died

Also on March 5

What else happened on this day, through history

363 Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
1046 Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
1279 The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1496 King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.

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The world in 1938

When Lynn arrived

april 18 Superman debuts in Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938).
april 25 U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
april 5 Spanish Civil War: Two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language.
august 18 The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States, with Ontario, Canada, over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on March 5

Canaan Banana 1936–2003 Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (died 2003) David II of Scotland (died 1371) 1324– Dean Stockwell 1936–2021 American actor (died 2021) Dora Marsden 1882–1960 English author and activist (born 1882) Edward Cornwallis 1713–1776 English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (born 1713) Emmanuel Mudiay 1996– Congolese-American basketball player Gordon Bajnai 1968– Hungarian businessman and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Hungary Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887–1959 Brazilian guitarist and composer (died 1959) J. Hillis Miller 1928– American academic and critic (died 2021)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1938

Alan Bond 1938–2015 English-Australian businessman (died 2015) Alberto Fujimori 1938–2024 Peruvian engineer, academic, and politician, President of Peru (died 2024) Andrew Clennel Palmer 1938–2019 British engineer (born 1938) Anthony Giddens 1938– English sociologist and academic Anthony James Leggett 1938– English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2026) Billy Shaw 1938–2024 American football player (died 2024) Caryl Churchill 1938– English-Canadian playwright Claudia Cardinale 1938– Italian actress (died 2025) Daniel Buren 1938– French sculptor and painter

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More to explore

Lynn's birthday March 5 Lynn's zodiac Pisces When Lynn arrived 1938