Aristotle's Lagoon
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Armand Marie Leroi (born 16 July 1964) is a New Zealand-born Dutch author, broadcaster, and professor of evolutionary developmental biology at Imperial College in London. He received the Guardian First Book Award in 2004 for his book ''Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body''. He has presented scientific documentaries on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
such as ''Alien Worlds'' (2005) and ''What Makes Us Human'' (2006), and
BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
such as ''
What Darwin Didn't Know ''What Darwin Didn't Know'' is a documentary show on BBC Four presented by Armand Marie Leroi which charts the progress in the field of Evolutionary Theory since the original publication of Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species '' ...
'' (2009), ''Aristotle's Lagoon'' (2010), and ''Secret Science of Pop'' (2012).


Early life and education

A Dutch citizen, Leroi was born in
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, New Zealand. His youth was spent in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree by
Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus in Saint John, New Brunswick. Dalhousie offe ...
, Halifax, Canada in 1989, and a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
by the
University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
in 1993. This was followed by postdoctoral work at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...
, New York City using the
nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant- parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a bro ...
''
Caenorhabditis elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''rhabditis'' (r ...
'' as an experimental organism.


Career

In 2001, Leroi was appointed lecturer at Imperial College, London. He has written several books, including ''Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body.'' In 2004 he adapted his book into a television documentary series for Britain's
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
entitled ''Human Mutants''. Leroi has presented two other TV documentary series for Channel 4: ''Alien Worlds'' in 2005, and ''What Makes Us Human'' in 2006. Despite his TV appearances, Leroi has expressed scepticism about the truthfulness of television creatives. In an email exchange with TV director Martin Durkin, concerning the latter's documentary ''
The Great Global Warming Swindle ''The Great Global Warming Swindle'' is a 2007 British polemical documentary film directed by Martin Durkin. The film denies the scientific consensus about the reality and causes of climate change, justifying this by suggesting that climatolo ...
'', Leroi wrote: "left to their own devices, TV producers simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth". He is also known as one of the first testers of the
beneficial acclimation hypothesis The beneficial acclimation hypothesis (BAH) is the physiological hypothesis that acclimating to a particular environment (usually thermal) provides an organism with advantages in that environment. First formally tested by Armand Marie Leroi, Al ...
. In 2005, Leroi published an article in '' The New York Times'' entitled "A Family Tree in Every Gene", which argued for the usefulness of racial types in medical genetics. In January 2009 Leroi presented the BBC4 documentary ''
What Darwin Didn't Know ''What Darwin Didn't Know'' is a documentary show on BBC Four presented by Armand Marie Leroi which charts the progress in the field of Evolutionary Theory since the original publication of Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species '' ...
'', which charts the progress in the field of Evolutionary Theory since the original publication of ''
On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' in 1859. In January 2010 Leroi presented the BBC4 documentary ''Aristotle's Lagoon'', filmed on the Greek island of
Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the na ...
and suggesting that Aristotle was the world's first biologist. The documentary account was expanded in his 2014 book ''The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science.'' He accepted Aristotle as his "scientific hero", describing: "His genius was simply to invent biology." Leroi collaborated on the DarwinTunes
evolutionary music Evolutionary music is the audio counterpart to evolutionary art, whereby algorithmic music is created using an evolutionary algorithm. The process begins with a population of individuals which by some means or other produce audio (e.g. a piece, ...
project, using natural selection to create music. The research findings explained how music choice evolved in the pattern of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's natural selection. The study was published in the ''
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...
'' in 2012. Leroi's research team also analysed the musical properties of the US Billboard Hot 100 between 1960 and 2010, and found that popular music emerged in three stylistic revolutions around 1964, 1983 and 1991. The study was published in the '' Royal Society Open Science'' in 2015. Explaining the contributions of The Beatles to the evolution of music, he said, "They're not making that
964 Year 964 ( CMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatoli ...
revolution, they're joining it. In 2016, he presented ''The Secret Science of Pop'' on BBC4.


Awards and honours

Leroi received the EMBO Award for Communication in the Life Sciences of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in 2006. In 2004, he won the Guardian First Book Award for ''Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body''. He was awarded the 2014 JBS Haldane Lecture of
The Genetics Society The Genetics Society is a British learned society. It was founded by William Bateson and Edith Rebecca Saunders in 1919 and celebrated its centenary year in 2019. It is therefore one of the oldest learned societies devoted to genetics. Its memb ...
. The same year he received the London Hellenic Prize of the
Hellenic Centre The Hellenic Centre is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation located at 16-18 Paddington Street, London. The Hellenic Centre is a cultural organisation founded run by the Hellenic Community Trust, a company limited by guarantee, and regist ...
for ''The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science.''


Books

*''Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body'' (Viking/Penguin, 2004) *''The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science'' (Viking, 9/25/2014)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leroi, Armand Marie 1964 births Living people University of California, Irvine alumni Developmental biologists Albert Einstein College of Medicine alumni Academics of Imperial College London Evolutionary biologists People from Wellington City New Zealand television presenters BBC television presenters