astronomy

Søren Løvtrup

Søren Løvtrup is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Søren Løvtrup rather than just read about it. In short: Soren Løvtrup (1922–2002) was a Danish embryologist and historian of science in the Department of Animal Physiology at the Umeå University, Sweden. Løvtrup was known for his macromutation theory of evolution, which was in opposition to traditional neo-Darwinism.

Key takeaways

Søren Løvtrup belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Søren Løvtrup to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Søren Løvtrup from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soren Løvtrup (1922–2002) was a Danish embryologist and historian of science in the Department of Animal Physiology at the Umeå University, Sweden. Løvtrup was known for his macromutation theory of evolution, which was in opposition to traditional neo-Darwinism. In 1987, Løvtrup published his controversial book Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth which challenged Charles Darwin's role as the intellectual founder of evolutionary theory and accused Darwin of plagiarism.

Career Løvtrup was born in Copenhagen. In 1945, he enrolled at University of Copenhagen, where he obtained a master's degree in biochemistry. He worked at Carlsberg Laboratory, until 1953 when he received a PhD in embryology. He also worked at University of Gothenburg. From 1965, he worked at Umeå University in Sweden as a professor of animal physiology.

Research

Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth Løvtrup is best known for his book Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth (1987). In this controversial work, he claimed that Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was the real founder of evolution and that natural selection was discovered by Erasmus Darwin, Patrick Matthew and other naturalists before Charles Darwin. The book supports the ideas of early evolutionary thinkers such as Karl Ernst von Baer, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and St. George Jackson Mivart. He was a critic of gradualism and the punctuated equilibrium theory of evolution. Løvtrup argued against the micromutation theory of the modern evolutionary synthesis and promoted his own theory of macromutation (saltational evolution). Biologist Bruce Wallace gave the book a mixed review, stating that Løvtrup was advocating a minority position in evolutionary biology and he "underestimates existing genetic variation, consequently, he favors evolutionary events that occur rarely even on a geologic time scale." Herpetologist Hobart Muir Smith wrote that the book with its sensationalist title would be highjacked by creationists but it is not against the fact of evolution, only against the Darwinian interpretation. Smith concluded "Certainly the book will strike many as controversial, but Løvtrup has given the world a truly epochal, introspective analysis of inestimable potential value." Science historian Keith Stewart Thomson gave the book a negative review commenting "Many of the sacred cows that Løvtrup wants to slaughter are either long since dead or merely made of straw. It is tedious to constantly to see Darwin and his followers taken to task for failing to be as smart as we are now." The book was criticized for providing no solid evidence for macromutations, Løvtrup only cited two alleged cases in his book.

Other works Løvtrup's book Epigenetics (1974) was a work on theoretical biology which attempted to present a unifying theory of epigenesis. Biologist Clifford Grobstein wrote that the book was a mixture of ideas, "sometimes illuminating, sometimes naïve, sometimes superficial, sometimes sophisticated, sometimes enormously detailed." He contributed a paper on his alternative evolutionary views to the book Alternative Life-History Styles of Animals (1990).

Publications

Studies on Amphibian Embryogenesis (1953) Epigenetics: A Treatise on Theoretical Biology (1974) The Phylogeny of Vertebrates (1977) Darwinism: The Refutation of a Myth (1987)

Personal life He married Ebba Lund, (a Danish Resistance fighter and later a microbiologist and chemical engineer) in 1944 and they had three children Vita (1945), Susanne (1948) and Anders (1951) before divorcing in 1959.

See also Mutationism Richard Goldschmidt

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Søren Løvtrup

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Søren Løvtrup claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Søren Løvtrup before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Søren Løvtrup ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Søren Løvtrup

In research: Søren Løvtrup appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Søren Løvtrup in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Søren Løvtrup is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1922 births, 2002 deaths, Carlsberg Laboratory staff, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Søren Løvtrup outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Søren Løvtrup in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Søren Løvtrup means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Søren Løvtrup out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Søren Løvtrup in simple terms?

Why does Søren Løvtrup matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Søren Løvtrup?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Søren Løvtrup.