Lynn Margulis
A prominent evolutionary theorist who championed the endosymbiotic theory, explaining the origin of eukaryotic cells.
Most quoted
"Science is not about control. It is about cultivating a perpetual condition of wonder in the face of something that forever grows one step richer and subtler than our latest theory about it."
— from Essay
"Symbiosis is the driving force of evolution. It is the process by which different organisms come together to form new, more complex systems."
"Science is not just a collection of facts, but a way of understanding the world. It is a process of inquiry, discovery, and exploration."
All quotes by Lynn Margulis (395)
We are not alone. We are not even ourselves.
Evolution is no linear family tree, but a tangled bank.
The world is not a collection of isolated individuals, but a network of interacting organisms.
The notion of a single, isolated organism is an illusion.
Life is a planetary phenomenon. It is not just on Earth, it is Earth.
The greatest challenge to the Darwinian paradigm is the existence of the cell itself.
Bacteria are the true masters of the planet.
We are walking, talking, thinking ecosystems.
The history of life is a history of mergers.
The idea of the individual is a cultural artifact.
Life is a planetary-scale phenomenon, a property of the Earth's surface.
The cell is a community of formerly free-living organisms.
Evolution is a process of integration, not just differentiation.
The biosphere is a self-regulating system.
We are all microbial consortia.
The boundaries between species are much more fluid than we imagine.
The Earth is alive, and we are part of its living system.
The history of life is a history of innovation through association.
The individual is a myth.
Life is a verb, not a noun.
Contemporaries of Lynn Margulis
Other Biologys born within 50 years of Lynn Margulis (1938–2011).