Elizabeth Varba (1942-2025). Image Credit: Michigan University
During the Palo Biological Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, several physicians sought to establish the status of a psychologist as evolutionary discipline. From 16 to 1980, the Field Museum of Natural History organized the Macro -evolution conference, a historical event that challenged the long -term domination of the modern recipe. Speakers were a relatively unidentified pelvinistologist from South Africa. His name was Elizabeth Varba. He took a center stage with a provocative paper that combines experimental data on the evolution of the deer with a timely balance.
Elizabeth Varba was born on May 17, 1942 in Hamburg, Germany. After the early death of her father in 1944, she left Namibia with her family. After her mother’s re -marriage, she grew up in the sheep form. His stepfather was a man who did not encourage him to study science or any other career. Of the unemployed landscape, however, mobilized the VRBA’s quest.
He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1964 with honor in zoology and mathematics statistics. In 1969, she joined the Transwal Museum (now the Dating National Museum of Natural History) in Pretoria, South Africa. In 1973, she became the head of the Department of Peelmentology and Peliantroopology at the museum. Next year, he completed his doctorate thesis. That same year, he published a dissertation in nature, which is known for his personal fossils found on the Steerkfantine site on the historical and environmental implications of Bueed Fusals.
Elizabeth Varba and Excavation staff at the Chromadrai site. Elderage, from 2025.
She remained in the museum until 1986. That same year, she moved to the United States with her family. He was a curator at the positions of Professor at Yale University, curators at the Pabodi Museum of Verbate Pilotology and Zoology, and Associate Researcher at the American Museum of Natural History.
His work on the focal record of African stars allowed him to investigate the causes of their evolution and speculation in groups, just as the deer is diverse. However, its most famous partnership is probably the concept of the Export (a feature that has been cooperated in addition to serving any additional function for which it is actually developed). Although according to Niles Aldridge, Stephen Jay Gold took his support as Principal Author, it was the VRBA who created the idea. His favorite example was the wings of the African Black Heron.
Elizabeth Varba in 2009 at the Sankanburg Museum. From Wikipedia
In 1985, the VRBA published its business plus assumption, which states that major changes in the climate or climate system often result in rapid exposure and new species (‘pulses’) appear in several tissues. Although it is currently controversial, it is extremely relevant in the era of Global Warming and Defense, where we are facing a newly -ending event.
In an interview to Discovery Magazine in 1993, he said: ‘I am interested in advancing the fronts of science, not traveling my boat on calm oceans. If you are worried about the storms, you should not be on the plane. In fact, I find the storm interesting. ‘
Elizabeth Varba died on February 5, 2025. Its extraordinary legacy affects researchers and students around the world.
References:
Elderage, N (2025). Elizabeth Varba Obatri. Royal Society’s transactions of South Africa1-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/0035919x.2025.2500804.
Varba, Elizabeth S (1974). Historical and environmental implications of Jovas Beddy on the Steerkfontin Australian site. Nature 250: 19-23.
VRBA, ES (1980). Evolution, species and focus: How does life develop? South Africa’s Journal of ScienceFor, for, for,. 76(2), 61-84.
VRBA, ES (1985). Environment and Evolution: Alternative causes of temporary distribution of evolutionary events. SEM SC science 81 (5): 229-236.
VRBA, ES, and Gold, SJ (1986). Extension of sorting and selection rating: cannot be equal to sorting and selection. Yellow biology, 12 (02), 217-228. DOI: 10.1017/s0094837300013671
