biology

Simon A. Levin

Simon A. Levin is a biology 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 Simon A. Levin rather than just read about it. In short: Simon Asher Levin (born April 22, 1941) is an American ecologist and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Simon Asher Levin (born April 22, 1941) is an American ecologist and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the director of the Center for BioComplexity at Princeton University. He specializes in using mathematical modeling and empirical studies in the understanding of macroscopic patterns of ecosystems and biological diversities.

Education Levin received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from University of Maryland in mathematics, which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.

Career At Cornell University 1965–1992, he was chair of the Section of Ecology and Systematics, and then director of the Ecosystems Research Center, the Center for Environmental Research and the Program on Theoretical and Computational Biology, as well as Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences (1985–1992). In 1992, Professor Levin published his highly cited paper, titled "The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology". Since 1992, he has been at Princeton University, where he is currently the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and director of the Center for BioComplexity. He retains an adjunct professorship at Cornell, where he still has many valued colleagues, and is a distinguished visiting professor at Arizona State University. His research interests are in understanding how macroscopic patterns and processes are maintained at the level of ecosystems and the biosphere, in terms of ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that operate primarily at the level of organisms; in infectious diseases; and in the interface between basic and applied ecology. Levin is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Mathematical Society, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a Foreign Member of the Istituto Veneto. He is a University Fellow of Resources for the Future, a Fellow of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, a Fellow of the Society for Mathematical Biology, a Fellow of the American Mathematical Association, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Luohan Academy. He also has received honorary doctorates from Eastern Michigan University, Whittier College (2004), Michigan State University, McMaster University, and the University of Victoria. He chaired the governing council for IIASA for more than five years and was vice-chair from 2009 to 2012. He serves on the science board of the Santa Fe Institute, which he co-chaired from 2007 to 2010. He is also vice-chair for mathematics of the Committee of Concerned Scientists. Levin is a former president of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Mathematical Biology, and a past chair of the board of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics. He won the MacArthur Award (1988), Distinguished Service Citation (1998) and the Eminent Ecologist Award (2010) of the Ecological Society of America, the Okubo Award of the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Japanese Society for Theoretical Biology, and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute for Biological Sciences. He was honored with the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2004), the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (2005) by the Inamori Foundation, and the Margalef Prize (2010) of the Government of Catalonia, the Luca Pacioli Prize from Ca’Foscari University of Venice, Italy, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2014), the National Medal of Science (2014, announced 2015, awarded 2016), and most recently, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology (2022). Levin has mentored more than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and has published widely. He is the editor of the influential Princeton Guide to Ecology and the landmark Encyclopedia of Biodiversity.

Awards and distinctions 1988 – Robert H. MacArthur Award from the Ecological Society of America 1998 – Distinguished Service Award from the Ecological Society of America 2001 – Okubo Prize from the Society for Mathematical Biology and the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology 2004 – Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 2004 – Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College 2005 – Kyoto Prize for Basic Sciences. 2007 – Beijer Fellow 2007 – American Biological Sciences Distinguished Scientist Award. 2010 – Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Generalitat of Catalonia. 2010 – Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America. 2014 – Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. 2014 – National Medal of Science. 2021 – BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in Ecology and Conservation Biology. 2026 – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.

References

External links Simon A. Levin publications indexed by Google Scholar Princeton faculty page INAMORI FOUNDATION (Japanese) "An interview with Dr. Simon Levin". ic papers. in-cites. July 2001. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2007.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon A. Levin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simon A. Levin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Simon A. Levin 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 Simon A. Levin 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 Simon A. Levin

In research: Simon A. Levin appears in biology 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 Simon A. Levin 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: Simon A. Levin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, 21st-century American biologists, American ecologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon A. Levin 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 Simon A. Levin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Simon A. Levin 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 Simon A. Levin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon A. Levin in simple terms?

Why does Simon A. Levin matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Simon A. Levin?

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 Simon A. Levin.