Leigh Van Valen, 1935-2010

Leigh Van Valen, 1935-2010

John Hawks is reporting that Leigh Van Valen passed away this weekend. I had the pleasure and honor of Leigh Van Valen being an occasional reader of my musings. He would leave comments as “leigh.” Here’s one which he left in February 2008:

Goldschmidt did a great deal more than hopeless monsters. I was with Dobzhansky when he heard of Goldschmidt’s death. I’ve preserved his comment: “A great geneticist has just died.”

Van Valen was the originator of the Red Queen’s Hypothesis.

Razib Khan