Lynn Margulis: An evolution of cooperation

Although Lynn Margulis wasn't an anthropologist, If you ask me I consider seh was - and remain- a very important person in my field.

She was an evolutionary theorist and biologist from U.S.A. She investigated all her -professional- life about the cells and she discovered a new way in which cells evolve, which he called evolution by endosymbiosis. Endosymbiosis is a way in which cells, and living beings in general, evolve cooperating together - instead of competing as in the theory of natural selection.

How the cells obtained mitochondria according to the endosymbiotic theory

She's one of my favorites scientifics because her theory opens a new way of understanding evolution, where competition is not necessary. It also refutes many social theories that war is natural and necessary.

As if that were not enough, she was a very rebellious scientist - which makes me like her a lot more - she never kept any of her opinions about what she thought of the scientific academy or politics. She persevered in front of all the people who told her - literally - that her work was shit, that she was discriminated against for being a woman, or for thinking that biology had social implications and vice versa. She is not only a scientist whom I admire very much, but she is also a woman that I find wonderful.