 While a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University with noted limnologist G. Evelyn Hutchinson, Lindeman submitted a chapter of his thesis for publication in the journal "Ecology" that outlined the Ten percent law.His manuscript was initially rejected for its generalisations but was published after Hutchinson and others were able to convince the editor of the paper's merits.This publication appeared in 1942, shortly after Lindeman's death caused by a rare form of hepatitis.