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Something similar happened with Carl Sagan’s wife, Lyn Margulis, whose perseverance with endosymbiosis should see her ranked alongside Darwin as a scientist who

Something similar happened with Carl Sagan’s wife, Lyn Margulis, whose perseverance with endosymbiosis should see her ranked alongside Darwin as a scientist who deduced where we came from.

cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago
I don't know - at Darwin's time, evolution theory was a huge leap given the beliefs of the time, isn't endosymbiosis more like a detail?
- wombatmobile 6y ago
  > isn't endosymbiosis more like a detail? It's huge. For the first 2 billion years of the history of Earth, life was unicellular. The only type of cell in existence was prokaryote. The atmosphere contained no oxygen. Then there was 1 billion years of history in which Earth's atmosphere changed. At the end of that billion years, two main differences were apparent. Firstly, the atmosphere was comprised of 21% oxygen. Secondly, life on Earth was comprised of two different types of cells - prokaryotes, and eukaryotes. Eukaryotic cells are 100 times larger than prokaryotes. Unlike prokaryotes, they form multi-cellular organisms. Everything you see around you with your eyes, and every living thing you ever watched David Attenborough talk about on TV are comprised of Eukaryotic cells. Endosymbiosis is the explanation of how Eukaryotic life came to exist.
  - cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago
    I don't mean it is not important, but it doesn't change how society thinks about things in a significant way. Evolution theory offers an alternative to the explanation that "god created everything". That affected everybody, not just the scientists.
    - wombatmobile 6y ago
      Yes, that's why I contrast Margulis' lack of renown in society with Carl Sagan's and Charles Darwin's respective fame. If endosymbiosis were popularly understood, society might better understand and acknowledge the connectedness of life on Earth. Instead of humans treating the planet as their own kingdom and garbage dump, they might develop a more harmonious, respectful relationship with the natural world. That might lead to greater prospects for sustainability of the planet and of humans.
- QuesnayJr 6y ago
  Evolution was proposed almost simultaneously by Wallace, so it couldn't have been that huge of a leap.
  - TheTrotters 6y ago
    Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus at roughly the some time as well and we typically see it as a huge leap.
  - cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago
    It was a huge leap because it was the first time somebody offered an explanation for the diversity of life, other than "god made it so".
monoideism 6y ago
How did I not know Lyn Margulis was Sagan's wife? I'm quite familiar with both of their work (Margulis also did groundbreaking with on our endorphin and dopamine systems, if I recall). By the way, I don't think that's even close to the same thing. Every biologist and biochemist knows about Margulis, because of her work.
- magicnubs 6y ago
  I was surprised to learn this too! Looks like they were only married for around 8 years (1957 to 1965), so they divorced before he was really famous. Maybe that's why it's not more widely known?
Metacelsus 6y ago
>perseverance with endosymbiosis Sadly, in her later years she became a bit too persistent with it, trying to apply it in cases where it clearly wasn't happening. The notorious example is this 2009 paper, now retracted: https://www.pnas.org/content/106/47/19901 https://www.pnas.org/content/106/47/19901
- wombatmobile 6y ago
  Do you feel the same way about Einstein's collaboration with Emil Rupp as you do about Lynn Margulis' collaboration with Donald Williamson? https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fraud-who-worked-with-einstein-508295378 https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fraud-who-worked-with-einstein-5...

Something similar happened with Carl Sagan’s wife, Lyn Margulis, whose perseverance with endosymbiosis should see her ranked alongside Darwin as a scientist who deduced where we came from.

cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago

I don't know - at Darwin's time, evolution theory was a huge leap given the beliefs of the time, isn't endosymbiosis more like a detail?

wombatmobile 6y ago
> isn't endosymbiosis more like a detail? It's huge. For the first 2 billion years of the history of Earth, life was unicellular. The only type of cell in existence was prokaryote. The atmosphere contained no oxygen. Then there was 1 billion years of history in which Earth's atmosphere changed. At the end of that billion years, two main differences were apparent. Firstly, the atmosphere was comprised of 21% oxygen. Secondly, life on Earth was comprised of two different types of cells - prokaryotes, and eukaryotes. Eukaryotic cells are 100 times larger than prokaryotes. Unlike prokaryotes, they form multi-cellular organisms. Everything you see around you with your eyes, and every living thing you ever watched David Attenborough talk about on TV are comprised of Eukaryotic cells. Endosymbiosis is the explanation of how Eukaryotic life came to exist.
- cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago
  I don't mean it is not important, but it doesn't change how society thinks about things in a significant way. Evolution theory offers an alternative to the explanation that "god created everything". That affected everybody, not just the scientists.
  - wombatmobile 6y ago
    Yes, that's why I contrast Margulis' lack of renown in society with Carl Sagan's and Charles Darwin's respective fame. If endosymbiosis were popularly understood, society might better understand and acknowledge the connectedness of life on Earth. Instead of humans treating the planet as their own kingdom and garbage dump, they might develop a more harmonious, respectful relationship with the natural world. That might lead to greater prospects for sustainability of the planet and of humans.
QuesnayJr 6y ago
Evolution was proposed almost simultaneously by Wallace, so it couldn't have been that huge of a leap.
- TheTrotters 6y ago
  Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus at roughly the some time as well and we typically see it as a huge leap.
- cvbcvbcvbcvbc 6y ago
  It was a huge leap because it was the first time somebody offered an explanation for the diversity of life, other than "god made it so".

monoideism 6y ago

How did I not know Lyn Margulis was Sagan's wife? I'm quite familiar with both of their work (Margulis also did groundbreaking with on our endorphin and dopamine systems, if I recall). By the way, I don't think that's even close to the same thing. Every biologist and biochemist knows about Margulis, because of her work.

magicnubs 6y ago
I was surprised to learn this too! Looks like they were only married for around 8 years (1957 to 1965), so they divorced before he was really famous. Maybe that's why it's not more widely known?

Metacelsus 6y ago

>perseverance with endosymbiosis Sadly, in her later years she became a bit too persistent with it, trying to apply it in cases where it clearly wasn't happening. The notorious example is this 2009 paper, now retracted: https://www.pnas.org/content/106/47/19901 https://www.pnas.org/content/106/47/19901

wombatmobile 6y ago
Do you feel the same way about Einstein's collaboration with Emil Rupp as you do about Lynn Margulis' collaboration with Donald Williamson? https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fraud-who-worked-with-einstein-508295378 https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-fraud-who-worked-with-einstein-5...