Lynn Margulis, R.I.P.

One of the giants of biology, and one of the most prominent women in science, has died. Biologist Lynn Margulis was 73. She developed the initially-ridiculed theory of symbiogenesis - describing how variations could develop out of the sharing of genes with microorganisms inside a host body - which is now accepted as a major contributor to evolution. I've read some of Margulis' work for general audiences,  and she comes through as a brilliant intellect who could also explain things in a way a non-biologist could understand.  ( I shoiuld mention Margulis later doubted the HIV-AIDS link and rejected some key tenets of what Darwin said about how evolution worked, but her reputation was assured by her work on how evolution DID work).


. http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=4364