Ernst Mayr: 1904 – 2005

One Long Argument, the title of one of Ernst Mayr's later popular books on evolution, in many ways sums up the core of his intellectual life. Mayr, a leading evolutionary biologist over many years of the past century, who died aged 100 last month, was an explorer, naturalist, ornithologist, philosopher, historian of science and Harvard academic. Like Darwin, he was studying medicine when his focus was diverted to natural history. In his 20s he grasped opportunities for tropical expeditions and his travels shaped his life. His achievements were the result of being profoundly enthralled by the wonders of nature and applying his sharp inquisitive mind to finding logical answers, supported by scientific research. Mayr was a birdwatcher from childhood, influenced by his father, Otto. At 10, he could identify many species around the southern German town of Kempten. But the most significant event that year was his sighting of a pair of red-crested pochards, not recorded in Germany since 1846. He recalled that his life would have been completely different had it not been for those ducks. 1928–29 experiences there included journeys through six unexplored mountain ranges. He was then invited to lead a 1929–30 expedition to the Solomon Islands, sponsored by the American philanthropist Harry Payne Whitney. This made important contributions to biology, discovered scores of species and filled a hall at New York's Museum of Natural History. In the early 1930s Mayr was briefly curator of Rothschild's Tring collection and might well have stayed in England. But when the banker plunged into financial crisis, 280,000 of his bird skins were sold to the New York museum.