# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/david-lack
# Generated: 2026-08-12T21:36:52.442Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/david-lack"
name: "David Lack"
slug: "david-lack"
description: "David Lambert Lack FRS was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, Darwin's Finches, on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landmark work as were his other popular science books on Life of the Robin and Swifts in a Tower. He developed what is now known as Lack's Principle which explained the evolution of avian clutch sizes in terms of individual selection as opposed to the competing contemporary idea that they had evolved for the benefit of species. His pioneering life-history studies of the living bird helped in changing the nature of ornithology from what was then a collection-oriented field. He was a longtime director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford."
tagline: "British ornithologist and biologist (1910-1973)"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/David_Lack.png"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1910-07-16"
deathDate: "1973-03-12"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           50.53
  momentum:             10.60763888888889
  historical:           17.28866266666667
  currentAttention:     6.36
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA_%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%83"
    title: "ديفيد لامبرت لاك"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D9%8A%DA%A4%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%83"
    title: "ديڤيد لاك"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4_%D0%9B%D0%B0%D0%BA"
    title: "Дейвид Лак"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%AF_%D9%84%DA%A9"
    title: "دیوید لک"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%82%A4%E3%83%93%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF"
    title: "デイビッド・ラック"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%A1%E0%A9%88%E0%A8%B5%E0%A8%BF%E0%A8%A1_%E0%A8%B2%E0%A9%88%E0%A8%95"
    title: "ਡੈਵਿਡ ਲੈਕ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "David Lack"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%88%B4%E7%BB%B4%C2%B7%E8%B5%96%E5%85%8B"
    title: "戴维·赖克"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Lack"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q732872"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump