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George Ledyard Stebbins
American botanist and geneticist (1906-2000) · United States · On the map · Scientists · Died at 94
George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University in 1931.
George Ledyard Stebbins is read about 16 times a day, in 16 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 8 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 120 days, one point a day.
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Photos 3
The perennial plant Antennaria plantaginifolia is one of the species studied by Stebbins for his doctoral dissertation.
Polyploidy and speciation in the genus Crepis was the subject of Stebbins's and Babcock's work on plant species formation. C. sibirica, shown here, was a species he examined.
The Triangle of U shows how hybridization, and polyploidy have given rise to new species in the genus Brassica. Chromosomes from each of the genomes A, B and C are represented by different colours. The cartoon shows the origin of the AABB, AACC and BBCC species which have chromosome sets from their AA, BB and CC ancestors.Awards
About this person
He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics.
