Joseph Felsenstein
Joe Felsenstein | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Joseph Felsenstein May 9, 1942 |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Known for | PHYLIP Felsenstein's tree-pruning algorithm |
| Relatives | Lee Felsenstein (brother) |
| Awards | Sewall Wright Award (1993) Weldon Memorial Prize (2000) Darwin–Wallace Medal (2008) John J. Carty award (2009) International Prize for Biology (2013) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Systematics Phylogenetics Population genetics Phylogenetic comparative methods |
| Institutions | University of Washington |
| Thesis | Statistical Inference and the Estimation of Phylogenies (1968) |
| Richard Lewontin[1] | |
Notable students | Fred W. Allendorf Michael Turelli Bruce Walsh |
| Website | www evolution |
Joseph "Joe" Felsenstein (born May 9, 1942[2]) is an American phylogeneticist and computational biologist, and a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Genome Sciences and Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is best known for his work on phylogenetic inference, and is the author of Inferring Phylogenies, and principal author and distributor of the package of phylogenetic inference programs called PHYLIP. Closely related to his work on phylogenetic inference is his introduction of methods for making statistically independent comparisons using phylogenies.[3][4][5]
Education
[edit]Felsenstein completed his undergraduate degree in 1964 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, researching in the laboratory of James F. Crow.[6] He completed a PhD at the University of Chicago in 1968, working under population genetics pioneer Richard Lewontin.[7] He did a postdoc at the Institute of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh,[7] then joined the faculty at the University of Washington in the Department of Genetics.
Research
[edit]In addition to his work in phylogenetics,[8][9][10][11] [12] Felsenstein is also noted for highly influential work in theoretical population genetics, including work on natural selection, migration and gene flow, linkage, speciation, and coalescence models.[13][14][15] Many of the research and statistical methods developed by Felsenstein have become major features and de facto standards in the field of phylogenomics. These include the use of Monte Carlo Markov chains for phylogenomic inference, applying Ronald Fisher's maximum likelihood to phylogenies rather than maximum parsimony,[16] pruning algorightms,[17] the phylogenetic boostrap,[10] and foundational software packages such as PHYLIP and LAMARC.
His 1985 research paper on bootstrapping in phylogenetics is one of the most cited scientific articles of all time.[18]
Awards
[edit]Felsenstein is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society of London in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences.[19] In 2013 he was awarded the International Prize for Biology by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.[20] He was awarded the Mendel Medal by The Genetics Society in 2026[21] and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year.[22]
The moth species Ufeus felsensteini was named in his honor.
Personal life
[edit]Felsenstein is the older brother of early personal computer designer Lee Felsenstein.[23]
An interview covering aspects of his academic career is part of the Distinguished Faculty Interview Series [24] of the Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington.
References
[edit]- ↑ Joseph Felsenstein at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ↑ "International Prize for biology | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science". www.jsps.go.jp. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J. (1985). "Phylogenies and the Comparative Method". The American Naturalist. 125 (1): 1–2. Bibcode:1985ANat..125....1F. doi:10.1086/284325. S2CID 9731499.
- ↑ Joseph Felsenstein's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ↑ Joseph Felsenstein publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ↑ James F. Crow Archived 2006-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-08-28. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Felsenstein, J. (1973). "Maximum Likelihood and Minimum-Steps Methods for Estimating Evolutionary Trees from Data on Discrete Characters". Systematic Biology. 22 (3): 240–249. doi:10.1093/sysbio/22.3.240.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J. (1981). "Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: A maximum likelihood approach". Journal of Molecular Evolution. 17 (6): 368–376. Bibcode:1981JMolE..17..368F. PMID 7288891. S2CID 8024924.
- 1 2 Felsenstein, J. (1982). "Numerical Methods for Inferring Evolutionary Trees". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 57 (4): 379–404. doi:10.1086/412935. S2CID 53635900.
- ↑ Felsenstein, Joseph (July 1985). "Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap" (PDF). Evolution. 39 (4): 783–791. doi:10.2307/2408678. JSTOR 2408678. PMID 28561359. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-12-30.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J. (1988). "Phylogenies from Molecular Sequences: Inference and Reliability". Annual Review of Genetics. 22: 521–565. doi:10.1146/annurev.ge.22.120188.002513. PMID 3071258.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J., and B. Taylor, eds. 1973. A Bibliography of Theoretical Population Genetics. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Technical Information Center, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J. 2004. Inferring Phylogenies. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass.
- ↑ Felsenstein, J. 2005. Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics (free ebook)
- ↑ Felsenstein, Joseph (1981-11-01). "Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: A maximum likelihood approach". Journal of Molecular Evolution. 17 (6): 368–376. doi:10.1007/BF01734359. ISSN 1432-1432.
- ↑ Hasegawa, Masami; Kishino, Hirohisa; Saitou, Naruya (1991-05-01). "On the maximum likelihood method in molecular phylogenetics". Journal of Molecular Evolution. 32 (5): 443–445. doi:10.1007/BF02101285. ISSN 1432-1432.
- ↑ Lemoine, F.; Domelevo Entfellner, J.-B.; Wilkinson, E.; Correia, D.; Dávila Felipe, M.; De Oliveira, T.; Gascuel, O. (April 2018). "Renewing Felsenstein's phylogenetic bootstrap in the era of big data". Nature. 556 (7702): 452–456. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0043-0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ↑ "John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ↑ "International Prize for biology | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science".
- ↑ "Mendel Medal 2026 – Professor Joe Felsenstein". The Genetics Society. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
- ↑ "Exceptional scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society". Royal Society. 2026-05-27. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
- ↑ Early History of the Personal Computer
- ↑ "UW Genome Sciences: Distinguished Faculty Interview Series".
