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David Lack
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{{Short description|British evolutionary biologist}} {{EngvarB|date=May 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox scientist |name = David Lack |birth_name = David Lambert Lack |image = David Lack.png |caption = Lack in 1966, photo by [[Eric Hosking]] |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1910|07|16}} |birth_place = London, England |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|03|12|1910|07|16}} |death_place = |spouse = [[Elizabeth Lack]] |children = 4, including [[Andrew Lack (author)|Andrew Lack]] |field = [[Ornithology]] |work_institutions = {{Plainlist| * [[University of Oxford]] * [[Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology]]}} |alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]] |doctoral_students = {{Plainlist| *[[Monica Turner (ornithologist)|Monica M. Betts]] *[[David Snow (ornithologist)|David W. Snow]] *[[John Alexander Gibb]] *[[William J.L. Sladen]] *[[Philip Ashmole]] * [[Robert Hinde]] * [[Ian Newton]] * [[Chris Perrins]]<ref name=perrins>{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|publisher=University of Oxford|title=Some factors influencing brood-size and populations in tits|first=Christopher Miles|last=Perrins|date=1963|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.671392|oclc=44835614|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=17 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117055902/https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.671392|url-status=dead}}</ref> * [[Bernard Stonehouse]]}} | notable_students = [[Robert H. MacArthur]] |known_for = {{Plainlist| * [[Lack's principle]] * ''Darwin's Finches''<ref name=darwinsfinches/>}} |prizes = {{Plainlist| * [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1951)<ref name="thorpe"/> * [[Godman-Salvin Medal]] (1958) * [[Darwin Medal]] (1972)}} }} '''David Lambert Lack''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]<ref name="thorpe">{{Cite journal|last1=Thorpe|first1=W. H.|year=1974|title=David Lambert Lack 1910-1973|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=20|pages=271β293|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1974.0012|author-link1=William Homan Thorpe|doi-access=free}}</ref> (16 July 1910 β 12 March 1973) was a British [[evolutionary biologist]] who made contributions to [[ornithology]], ecology, and [[ethology]].<ref name="anderson">{{cite book | author=Anderson, Ted R. | title=The Life of David Lack: Father of Evolutionary Ecology | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-19-992264-2 }}</ref> His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the [[Darwin's Finches|finches of the Galapagos Islands]] was a landmark work as were his other popular science books on ''Life of the Robin'' and ''Swifts in a Tower''.<ref name=auk>{{cite journal| author=Blake, Charles H. | year=1974 | title= Obituary | journal=The Auk | volume=91 | issue=1 | page= 239 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v091n01/p0239-p0242.pdf | doi=10.2307/4084715| jstor=4084715 }}</ref> He developed what is now known as [[Lack's principle|Lack's Principle]] which explained the evolution of avian clutch sizes in terms of individual selection as opposed to the competing contemporary idea that they had evolved for the benefit of species (also known as [[group selection]]). His pioneering life-history studies of the living bird helped in changing the nature of ornithology from what was then a collection-oriented field. He was a longtime director of the [[Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology]] at the [[University of Oxford]].
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