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|religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} George Gaylord Simpson (June 16, 1902 – October 6, 1984) was an American paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern evolutionary synthesis, contributing ''Tempo and mode in evolution'' (1944), ''The meaning of evolution'' (1949) and ''The major features of evolution'' (1953). He was an expert on extinct mammals and their intercontinental migrations.〔Simpson G.G. 1940. Mammals and land bridges. ''Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences'' 30: 137163. See Charles H. Smith's website for full text: ()〕 He anticipated such concepts as punctuated equilibrium (in ''Tempo and mode'') and dispelled the myth that the evolution of the horse was a linear process culminating in the modern ''Equus caballus''. He coined the word ''hypodigm'' in 1940, and published extensively on the taxonomy of fossil and extant mammals.〔 p. 418.〕 Simpson was influentially, and incorrectly, opposed to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift.〔Simpson G.G. 1953. ''Evolution and geography: an essay on historical biogeography with special reference to mammals''. Oregon State System of Higher Education: Eugene, Oregon.〕 He was Professor of Zoology at Columbia University, and Curator of the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History from 1945 to 1959. He was Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 1959 to 1970, and a Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona until his retirement in 1982. ==Awards== In 1943 Simpson was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_thompson )〕 For his work, ''Tempo and mode in evolution'', he was awarded the Academy's Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal in 1944.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_elliot )〕 He was awarded the Linnean Society of London's prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1958. Simpson also received the Royal Society's Darwin Medal 'In recognition of his distinguished contributions to general evolutionary theory, based on a profound study of palaeontology, particularly of vertebrates,' in 1962. At the University of Arizona, Tucson, the Gould-Simpson Building was named for Arizona geologist Lawrence M. Gould and Simpson.〔(Gould-Simpson Building, Univ. of Arizona )〕 Simpson was noted for his work in the field of paleogeography and continental evolution relationships. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Gaylord Simpson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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