Beginning in the 1960s, evolutionary biology was significantly transformed by the incorporation of ideas and techniques from molecular biology. The new field of molecular evolution fostered innovation and controversy as biologists considered new claims about phylogenetic relationships, rates of evolution, the power of natural selection and genetic drift, and mechanisms for the evolution of genes and proteins.

This website is devoted to recounting, documenting, and analyzing the history of molecular evolutionary biology.

You may explore this site's content using the links below the banner.

• Topics will lead you to material organized by theme, such as the history of the neutral theory of molecular evolution. New topics are being developed and will be added as they are ready.
• People will lead you to a set of biographies of important figures in the history of molecular evolution.
• Interviews will lead you to a list of conversations between biologists, historians, and philosophers, such as Morris Goodman's interview with Joel Hagen.
• Videos will lead you to a list of streaming video clips drawn from interviews, documentaries, and conferences.
• Discussions will lead you to the transcripts and records of previous online discussions and conferences.
• Documents will lead you to a list of documents available as part of this site, including some unpublished sources such as the transcript of the 1960 Macy Conference.
• Bibliographies will lead you to a list of bibliographies organized by subject.

Site History

The site began in 1999 as part of the History of Recent Science and Technology on the Internet project supported by the Sloan Foundation and the Dibner Fund. The initial collaborators for the site were John Beatty, Rob Cox, and Michael Dietrich. Jay Aronson worked as a researcher for the site for its first three years. When the Dibner Institute closed in 2006, Michael Dietrich revised and relaunched this site from a server at Dartmouth College.

Written and maintained by Michael Dietrich. Last updated on May 8, 2007.

Department of Biological Sciences
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
Michael.Dietrich@Dartmouth.edu