Ivan Schmalhausen

Ivan Schmalhausen
Born
Иван Иванович Шмальгаузен

(1884-04-23)April 23, 1884
Kiev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedOctober 7, 1963(1963-10-07) (aged 79)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
CitizenshipRussian, later Soviet
Alma materKiev University
Known forstabilizing selection, modern synthesis, books "Factors of Evolution: the Theory of Stabilizing Selection" (1946) and "The Organism as a Whole in its Individual and Historical Development" (1938)
Scientific career
FieldsZoologist, evolutionist
InstitutionsInstitute of Zoology (Kiev),
Kiev University,
University of Tartu,
Moscow University,
Institute of Evolutionary Morphology (Moscow),
Zoological Institute (Leningrad)
Doctoral advisorAlexey Severtzov
Doctoral studentsBoris Balinsky

Ivan Ivanovich Schmalhausen (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Шмальга́узен; 23 April 1884 – 7 October 1963) was a Ukrainian and later Soviet zoologist and evolutionary biologist of German descent. He developed the theory of stabilizing selection, and took part in the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis.

He is remembered, among other things, for Schmalhausen's law, which states that a population at its limit of tolerance in one aspect is vulnerable to small differences in any other aspect.