Allan Wilson, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Allan Wilson

New Zealand biologist

Date of Birth: 18-Oct-1934

Place of Birth: Ngāruawāhia, Waikato Region, New Zealand

Date of Death: 21-Jul-1991

Profession: biologist, university teacher, biochemist, anthropologist

Nationality: New Zealand

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Allan Charles Wilson (18 October 1934 – 21 July 1991) was a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, a pioneer in the use of molecular approaches to understand evolutionary change and reconstruct phylogenies, and a revolutionary contributor to the study of human evolution.
He was one of the most controversial figures in post-war biology; his work attracted a great deal of attention both from within and outside the academic world.
He is the only New Zealander to have won the MacArthur Fellowship.He is best known for experimental demonstration of the concept of the molecular clock (with his doctoral student Vincent Sarich), which was theoretically postulated by Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl, revolutionary insights into the nature of the molecular anthropology of higher primates and human evolution, and the so-called Mitochondrial Eve hypothesis (with his doctoral students Rebecca L.
Cann and Mark Stoneking).