Lynn Margulis

(Chicago, 1938-Massachusetts, United States, 2011)

Biologist and professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) from 1989 to 2011. She dedicated her professional life to researching the microcosm of the smallest organisms on Earth, bacteria. The main contribution of this researcher had to do with the evolutionary discourse, a topic in which she managed to enrich the famous theory of biological evolution with her brilliant discoveries about the microbial world. Margulis demonstrated that nucleated or eukaryotic cells – of which all living organisms are made: fungi, plants, animals, and numerous unicellular beings – not only descend from bacteria, but are literally amalgams of diverse bacterial cells. The physical association between organisms of different species, called symbiosis, has had, according to Margulis, a crucial importance in the history of life. The most notable case would be that of the nucleated cell, where its components, simpler organisms, have been integrated to produce new and unexpected results. She emphasized cooperation in the evolutionary process, a suggestive hypothesis that stirred scientific thinking.

He participated in MediaLab within the framework of its Cibervisión02 seminar. Winter cycle of Science and Technology of the Complutense University of Madrid and at banquet_03. Symposium: Metabolism and communication.