Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Lynn Margulis (born 1938) is a
biologist and a professor at the University of Massachusetts
Amherst. In 1967 she proposed a contentious new hypothesis which
became her most important scientific contribution as the
endosymbiotic theory of the origin of mitochondria as separate
organisms that long ago entered a symbiotic relationship with
eukaryotic cells through endosymbiosis. - "She is best known for
her theory of symbiogenesis, which challenges a central tenet of
neodarwinism. She argues that inherited variation, significant
in evolution, does not come mainly from random mutations. Rather
new tissues, organs, and even new species evolve primarily
through the long-lasting intimacy of strangers. The fusion of
genomes in symbioses followed by natural selection, she
suggests, leads to increasingly complex levels of
individuality."  - " After the proposal of the endosymbiotic
theory, Margulis predicted that if organelles were prokaryotic
symbionts, then the organelles will have t