“Lynn Margulis is one of those rare scientists whose research fundamentally altered the way we view the world.”
Eric Goldscheider
American (r)evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis is most known for her theory on endosymbiosis, which fundamentally transformed the understanding of the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Her theory is now accepted as scientific norm and is taught in schools the world over, but in the 1960’s and 70’s after the publication of her paper: “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells” Margulis had to fight hard for its acceptance in the minds of her fellow scientists. The paper was rejected from 15 journals prior to publication in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in 1967.
“Lynn Margulis’s name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin’s is with evolution.”
Jan Sapp
Often described as a scientific rebel, Margulis herself said that she was a bad student who was often punished by being made to stand quietly in a corner of the classroom. Nevertheless she was accepted as a student at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1952 at the age of 15 and in 1957 she earned her BA in Liberal Arts from the University of Chicago.
She went on to study biology at the University of Wisconsin and graduated with an MS in Genetics/Zoology in 1960. Her PhD research in zoology was completed on the job following her leaving the University of California, Berkeley for an early job offer as a research associate and lecturer at Brandeis University. Over the span of her career, she was awarded an extra 15 (honorary) doctoral degrees by various educational institutions.
Margulis academically settled at Boston University in 1966 and continued to teach biology there for 22 years before moving to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as a Distinguished Professor of Botany in 1988. She held her post as DP within the university until her death in 2011, transferring through the Department of Biology before settling in the Department of Geosciences.
It was as a junior faculty member at Boston University in 1966 that she wrote her theoretical paper “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells”, now considered a landmark scientific publication. Margulis theorised that energy-producing cell organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts (in animal and plant cells, respectively) once existed independently as free-living bacteria. The theory was at best ignored and at worst heavily criticised by other scientists until experimental evidence could be obtained through new genetic techniques. Margulis fiercely backed her theory throughout the years of doubt and was later in her career quoted saying: “I don’t consider my ideas controversial. I consider them right”.
“I greatly admire Lynn Margulis’s sheer courage and stamina in sticking by the endosymbiosis theory, and carrying it through from being an unorthodoxy to an orthodoxy. This is one of the great achievements of twentieth-century evolutionary biology.”
Richard Dawkins
In 1978, researchers Robert Schwarz and Margaret Dayhoff laid the foundations for experimental evidence of the endosymbiosis theory by demonstrating the descent of mitochondria from bacteria and chloroplasts from cyanobacteria. Margulis’s theory was widely accepted in the early 1980s when clear differences in the genetic material of mitochondria and chloroplasts on the one hand and nuclei on the other were observed.
Margulis remained a controversial character throughout her life, her ideas often sparking scientific debate. Though a self-confessed Darwinist, Margulis took issue with the view of natural selection and evolution through only competition, and argued that symbiosis should be included as a major driver of evolutionary change, saying: “Natural selection eliminates and maybe maintains, but it doesn’t create”. Her proposal that symbiosis between organisms can explain most genetic variation however is considered a fringe idea. Employing her famed tenacity in the face of opposition Margulis also defended Robert Whittaker’s five kingdom classification system, successfully ensuring its survival following intense criticism.
In addition to her fame as a scientist, Lynn Margulis also made a name for herself in science education and communication, publishing over 20 books. These were often co-authored with her and astronomer Carl Sagan’s son Dorion Sagan, a popular science writer in his own right.
Margulis was awarded numerous prizes throughout her career, notably she was recognised as one of the 50 most important women in science in 2002, 9 years before her death. Lynn Margulis rests in the area around Puffers Pond, her favourite local fieldwork site in Massachusetts – surrounded by billions of the symbiotic cellular relationships she fought so hard to shed light on.