3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

314 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man
with a ring he wore ever since (and which he instructed his daughters to present
after his death to Walter Bock [see Bock 2005]).
“Although the accent of the symposium to which I had been invited was undoubtedly
on botany, zoology was also represented with Rensch, Julian Huxley,
myself and perhaps a few others. The award ceremony was a most impressive occasion.
Every time a recipient received his degree a canon on the roof of the building
gave a salute. The Laurel wreath that was placed on one’s head supposedly came
from a tree in their greenhouses that had been planted by Linnaeus. After one had
thus been decorated one moved over to the King of Sweden and had to bow. I still
remember how loosely the wreath was sitting on my head, and how afraid I was it
might fall off me if I made a proper bow. As a result my bow was more of a courtesy
because I didn’t dare to let the wreath fall. The occasion of course was combined
with visits to Linnaeus’ home and his garden, and all sorts of other interesting
features of the surroundings of Uppsala.”
Mayr repeatedly lectured in Denmark and in Finland (e.g., in 1957). Official
recognition by evolutionary and zoological circles in Germany was somewhat
delayed (honorary degree by the University of Munich 1968, Honorary Member of
the Zoological Society 1970, member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher
Leopoldina 1972, Mendel Medal 1980, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Medal
1989, honorary degrees of the universities of Konstanz 1994 and Berlin 2000).
Mayr attributed this delay to the absence in Germany of an interest in species-level
evolution and in mechanisms of evolution, which continues even today.
Mayr’s reputation grew steadily supported by his well-known publications in
the fields of ornithology, evolutionary biology, history and philosophy of biology.
During the Darwin year 1959, he was invited to the famous Chicago meeting, the
results of which were edited by S. Tax in three volumes. Immediately after the
end of that meeting Mayr went via Berkeley to Australia where he gave the major
lecture at a Darwin celebration of the Royal Society of Melbourne, which at the
same time celebrated its 100th anniversary and honored him by a degree. Yale
University awarded him the Verrill Medal in 1966. In 1969 six scientists received
the National Medal of Science, the highest U.S. scientific award, one of them Ernst
Mayr “for notable contributions to systematics, biogeography, and especially the
evolution of animal populations.” This medal was created in 1959, when the nation
strongly reacted to the Sputnik, Russia’s first space flight. Numerous signs of
appreciation came to Mayr from universities and scientific societies in the United
States, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Australia, Austria, and
Italy totaling 17 honorary degrees, 35 medals and other special awards and 52
honorary memberships (see Appendix 1 for details).
Mayr achieved distinction in five different fields: (1) ornithology and zoogeography:
Brewster Medal (1965), Honorary degree Oxford (1966), Centennial
Medal, AMNH (1969), Coues Medal (1977), Eisenmann Medal (1983), Salvin-
Godman Medal (1994), Honorary degree Vienna (1994); (2) Systematics: Leidy
Medal (1946), Honorary degrees Uppsala (1957), Yale (1959), Amherst (1993),
Paris museum (1997), Berlin (2000); (3) Evolutionary biology: Honorarydegrees
from the universities of Melbourne (1959), Munich (1968), Paris (1974), Harvard