Fifty years later: I. Michael Lerner'sGenetic Homeostasis (1954)—a valiant attempt to integrate genes, organisms and environment

Abstract

Although it elicited considerable discussion, Genetic Homeostasis by (I)sadore Michael Lerner, published in 1954, does not occupy a position as one of the seminal works in population genetics, the integration of genetics and environment or in evolutionary developmental biology, nor, despite its context and avowed intention, is it seen to provide the crucial mechanistic link between Waddingtonian genetic assimilation, canalization, genetics (heterozygosity), phenotypic change and selection. Why is that? A slim book of 134 five and a half by nine inch pages (more or less Royal Octavo), Genetic Homeostasis was written between January and July 1953 by a 42-year-old Professor of Poultry Science from the University of California at Berkeley; see below. Supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, Lerner wrote the book at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Pavia, Italy and completed it at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia in Pallanza. This was not Lerner’s first bookFPopulation Genetics and Animal Improvement was published in 1950Fnor would it be his last. He wrote The Genetic Basis of Selection (1959), a broadbased book for professionals, and Heredity Evolution and Society (1968), a wonderfully accessible book aimed at the more general readerFbut it is the most original and innovative of Lerner’s books, a testament to what can emerge from the combination of a prepared mind, sabbatical leave, ‘‘Guggenheim’’, solitude and an Italian winter.