George Gaylord Simpson

George Gaylord Simpson 1902-84, American paleontologist and zoologist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Yale, 1926. He became assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1927. From fossil material gathered on trips to the W and SE United States and to Argentina, he discovered migratory and evolutionary patterns of the prehistoric fauna of the Americas. His deductions that species reached adaptive peaks and suffered accidental dispersal contributed greatly to the study of evolution. He served as professor of vertebrate paleontology at Columbia (1945-59) and at Harvard (1959-70). He received many scientific awards. His works include Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1949), The Major Features of Evolution (1953); The Geography of Evolution (1965), and Biology and Man (1969).

Simpson, George Gaylord (1902–84) An American palaeontologist, specializing in mammalian evolution, who also studied mammal migrations. He obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1926, for a thesis on Mesozoic mammals, and then joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, becoming curator in 1942. In 1945 he moved, as a professor, to Columbia University. From 1959 to 1970 he was Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and in 1967 was appointed Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona.

Simpson, George Gaylord (1902–84) An American palaeontologist, specializing in mammalian evolution, who also studied mammal migrations. He obtained his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1926, for a thesis on Mesozoic mammals, and then joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, becoming curator in 1942. In 1945 he moved, as a professor, to Columbia University. From 1959 to 1970 he was Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and in 1967 was appointed professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. His studies of fossil mammals, especially those of Madagascar, led him initially to oppose the theory of continental drift. Simpson proposed that the dispersion of species occurred along sweepstakes dispersal routes.