This book is the first detailed biography of Ernst Mayr. He was an 'architect' of the Synthetic Theory of Evolution, and the greatest evolutionary biologist since Charles Darwin, influential historian and philosopher of biology, outstanding taxonomist and ornithologist, and naturalist. He is one of the most widely known biologists of the 20th century. Mayr used the theories of natural selection and population thinking as theoretical models within the framework of historical biological studies. He was the first to emphasize the role of biopopulations, thereby pointing out the basic difference between 'population thinking' and typological essentialism.

The young naturalist in Germany. Childhood and youth. The family. Birdwatching. The duck with a red bill. University student in Greifswald and Berlin. Friendships at school and university

The budding scientist. PhD thesis and examination. The influence of teachers. Erwin Stresemann - teacher and friend. Assistant curator at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin. Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Ornithologist in New York. The New York years (1931 - 1953). Emigration to the United States and life in New York City. Curator of ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History. Ornithologist and zoogeographer. Birds of Oceania. Birds of Australia, the Malay Archipelago, and SE Asia. Descriptions of new species and subspecies of birds. Zoogeography
Biological species and speciation - Mayr's first synthesis. A modern unified theory of evolution. Community architect
Life in New York during World War II. New York City and Tenafly, New Jersey. Cold Spring Harbor (1943 - 1952). Citizenship
Professor of Zoology at Harvard University. The Harvard years (1953 - 2005). Teaching and PhD students. Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Evolutionary biology - Mayr's second synthesis. Overviews of evolutionary biology. Integrated gene complexes versus beanbag genetics. Animal Species and Evolution. Behavior and evolution. Particular topics of evolutionary biology.-Ernst Mayr - The man. Personality and general views. Health. The farm near Wilton, New Hampshire. Residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Advisor to the National Academy of Sciences and the NSF. National and international recognition
Systematics and classification. Diversity. Classification. Zoological nomenclature
History and philosophy of biology - Mayr's third synthesis. History of biology. Philosophy of biology.-