V. C. Wynne-Edwards
| Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards | |
|---|---|
Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards
|
|
| Born |
4 July 1906 Leeds, England |
| Died | 5 January 1997 (aged 90) Banchory, Scotland |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
| Known for | group selection |
| Awards |
Neill Prize (1973) Frink Medal (1980) Walker Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | zoology |
| Institutions |
McGill University(1930-1946) Aberdeen University(1946-1974) |
Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards CBE,FRS,FRSE LLD (4 July 1906 – 5 January 1997) was an English zoologist. He was best known for his advocacy of group selection, the theory that natural selection acts at the level of the group.
He was born in Leeds on 4 July 1906 the son of Rev Canon John Rosindale Wynne-Edwards and his wife, Lilian Agnes Streatfield. He attended Rugby School then studied Zoology at Oxford University graduating MA. In 1929 he took a post at McGill University in Canada, lecturing in zoology. This was interrupted by the Second World War during which he served in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. After the war Aberdeen University gave him a professorship in Natural History and he continued this until retiral in 1974.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1950. His proposers were Cyril Edward Lucas, Sir Maurice Yonge, Charles W Parsons and Dr John Berry. He won the Society's Neill Prize for the period 1973-75. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1974 and was given an honorary doctorate (LLD) by Aberdeen University.
He remained in the area after retiral and died in Banchory on 5 January 1997.
Wynne-Edwards was best known for espousing a form of group selection that operates at the level of the species, most notably in his 1962 book, Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour. In it, he argued that many behaviors evolved for the good of the species as a whole, rather than at a lower level of organization. For example, he argued that species have adaptive population-regulatory mechanisms. His arguments were vigorously criticized by George C. Williams in his Adaptation and Natural Selection, a debate summarized by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene.
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