Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Born This Day: Gavin de Beer

de Beer (Nov. 1, 1899 – June 21, 1972) was an English zoologist and morphologist who contributed to experimental embryology, anatomy, and evolution. He refuted the germ-layer theory and developed the concept of paedomorphism - the retention of juvenile characteristics of ancestors in mature adults).

From examination of the fossil
Archaeopteryx
, De Beer proposed mosaic evolution with piecemeal evolutionary changes to explain the combination of bird and reptile features.