Lev Berg#Nomogenesis

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Lev Berg

| native_name = Лев Берг

| native_name_lang = ru

| image = File:Берг 1920 год.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Berg in 1920

| birth_name = Lev Semyonovich Berg

| birth_date = 14 March 1876

| birth_place = Bender, Bessarabia, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{d-da|24 December 1950|14 March 1876}}

| death_place = Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| residence =

| citizenship =

| field = Geographer and biologist

| work_institutions =

| alma_mater =

| known_for =

| author_abbrev_bot =

| author_abbrev_zoo =

}}

Lev Semyonovich Berg, also known as Leo S. Berg ({{langx|ru| Лев Семёнович Берг}}; 14 March 1876 – 24 December 1950) was a leading Russian geographer, biologist and ichthyologist who served as President of the Soviet Geographical Society between 1940 and 1950.

He is known for his own evolutionary theory, nomogenesis (a form of orthogenesis incorporating mutationism) as opposed to the theories of Darwin and Lamarck.

Life

Lev Berg was born in Bessarabia in a Jewish family, the son of Simon Gregoryevich Berg, a notary, and Klara Lvovna Bernstein-Kogan. He graduated from the Second Kishinev Gymnasium in 1894.V. V. Tikhomirov, "Berg, Lev Simonovich," Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008), [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900377.html Encyclopedia.com] (accessed April 27, 2015). Like some of his relatives, Berg converted to Christianity in order to pursue his studies at Moscow State University.Elena Aronova, "Raissa L'vovna Berg," Jewish Women's Archive, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/berg-raissa-lvovna (accessed 21 April 2015).

At Moscow University, Berg studied hydrobiology and geography. He later studied ichthyology and in 1928 was awarded he was also a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Lev Berg graduated from the Moscow State University in 1898. Between 1903 and 1914, he worked in the Museum of Zoology in Saint Petersburg. He was one of the founders of the Geographical Institute, now a Faculty of Geography of the Saint Petersburg State University.

Berg studied and determined the depth of the lakes of Central Asia, including Balkhash and Issyk-Kul. He developed Dokuchaev's doctrine of natural zones, which became one of the foundations of the Soviet biology. Among his pioneering monographs on climatology were "Climate and Life" (1922) and "Foundations of Climatology" (1927).

During his lifetime, Berg was a towering presence in the science of ichthyology.{{cite journal|title=Obituary: L. S. Berg|journal=Geographical Review|date=Oct 1951|volume= 41|issue= 4|jstor=210715|last1=Morrison|first1=J. A.|pages=673–675}} In 1916, he published four volumes of the study of Fishes of Russia. The fourth edition was issued in 1949 as Freshwater Fishes of the Soviet Union and Adjacent Countries and won him the Stalin Prize.{{cite book|author1=American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies|title=The Current digest of the Soviet Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vNVAAAAYAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=February 1951|page=18}} He was said to have discovered the symbiotic relationship between lampreys and salmon. Berg's name is featured in the Latin appellations of more than 60 species of plants and animals.

He spent the last two years of his life living in Komarovo.{{Cite web |title=Келломяки — Комарово |url=http://www.komarovo.spb.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Komarovo----7-118.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008180456/http://www.komarovo.spb.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Komarovo----7-118.pdf |archive-date=2017-10-08}}

He died on December 24, 1950 in Leningrad. He was buried on the Volkovo Cemetery.{{Cite web |date=2015-04-02 |title=Некрополь Волковское кладбище Литераторские мостки - Берг Лев Семенович |url=http://volkovka.ru/nekropol/view/item/id/474/catid/4 |access-date=2024-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112130/http://volkovka.ru/nekropol/view/item/id/474/catid/4 |archive-date=2015-04-02 }}

In 2001, the Central Bank of Transnistria minted a silver coin honoring this native of today's Transnistria,{{cite journal|last=Smalley|first=Ian |author2=Markovic, Slobodan |author3=O’Hara-Dhand, Ken |author4=Wynn, Peter|date=June 2010|title=A man from Bendery: L.S. Berg as geographer and loess scholar|journal=Geologos|publisher=Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe|volume=16|issue=2|pages=111–119|issn=1426-8981|hdl=10593/566}} as part of a series of commemorative coins called The Outstanding People of Pridnestrovie.

Nomogenesis

Berg is best known for his evolutionary theory called nomogenesis, which was a type of orthogenesis or mutationism. Berg's ideas were collected in his book Nomogenesis; or, Evolution Determined by Law and was first published in 1922 in Russia; it was later translated into English in two editions the first appearing in 1926 and the later edition appearing in 1969. In the book Berg collected a large amount of empirical data which offered a strong criticism of Darwin's theory of evolution.{{cite journal |author1=Levit, Georgy S. |author2=Olsson, Lennart |title='Evolution on Rails' : Mechanisms and Levels of Orthogenesis |journal=Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology | issue=11 |year=2006 |pages=112–113 |url=https://www.univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/bitstream/handle/3/isbn-978-3-938616-85-7/annals%2011_DGGBT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}

Berg's theory of nomogenesis combined arguments from paleontology, zoology and botany to claim that evolution is not a random process. The theory emphasized the limitations of natural selection which determine the directionality of evolution.{{cite journal| author=Vol'kenshteĭn MV | title=Molecular Biology, Darwinism and Nomogenesis | journal=Mol Biol (Mosk) | year=1987 | volume=21 | issue=3 | pages=630–639 | pmid=3309616}}

Berg claimed that the variation of characters in species is confined within certain limits due to both internal and external factors. The limitation of the variability, Berg argued, left hardly any space for natural selection; he claimed this was supported by the paleontological record because all the phylogenetic branches look more or less like straight lines. Berg distanced himself from both Darwinism and Lamarckism. Instead he proposed the mutationist concept of directed mass mutations as the main mechanism for directing evolution.

Influenced by the paleontologist Wilhelm Waagen, he labeled the directed mutations Waagen-Mutations:

"New species arise by means of mass transformation of a great number of individuals, which happens due to Waagen mutations... This mass transformation is a phenomenon of geological magnitude. It is connected with the alteration of the fauna of a certain horizon and comes about in certain periods only to be absent for a long time"Berg, L. (1969) Nomogenesis; or, Evolution Determined by Law, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, (Original Russian edition 1922.) p. 317

Thus Berg claimed evolution was caused by mass mutations, which are directed by internal and external factors, so that new species occur with a high probability of being almost perfectly adapted. According to Berg, newly evolved species beget the subordinate taxonomic categories, and appear to be perfectly adapted to their environments. Although Berg's theory was anti-Darwinian, and anti-Lamarckian, it still advocated adaptive evolution.

J. B. S. Haldane called Nomogenesis "by far the best anti-Darwinian book of this century".John Haldane, The causes of evolution, 1932

Personal life

In 1910, Berg married fellow Bendery native Polina Abramovna Kotlovker. They separated shortly after the birth of their second child and though Polina sued, the Russian Orthodox Church granted custody to her Christian husband. Berg's mother helped raise the children, Simon (born 1911) and Raissa (born 1913). Berg married Maria Mikhailovna Ivanova, the daughter of a ship's commander, in 1923.Elena Aronova, "Raissa L'vovna Berg," Jewish Women's Archive, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/berg-raissa-lvovna (accessed 21 April 2015); V. V. Tikhomirov, "Berg, Lev Simonovich," Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008), [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900377.html Encyclopedia.com] (accessed April 27, 2015).

Honours

Berg was honored for a lifetime of scientific achievement by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and presented with the P. P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky Gold Medal.

The Berg Mountains in Antarctica,{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 1267| name = Berg Mountains | accessdate = 2011-06-04}} Cape Berg in Severnaya Zemlya and Cape Berg in Zemlya Georga were named after him.[http://www.aari.aq/persons/berg/berg_ru.html Лев Семенович Берг (1876 - 1950)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017100152/http://www.aari.aq./persons/berg/berg_ru.html |date=2022-10-17 }}. Retrieved on 19 November 2016

The research ship Lev Berg, named after him, currently rests on the dried bottom of the Aral Sea.{{cite web | url=https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-the-northern-aral-sea-rides-wave-of-optimism | title=Kazakhstan: The Northern Aral Sea Rides Wave of Optimism | Eurasianet }} In 1971, it was involved in the Aral smallpox incident.

Taxon named in his honor

Bathyraja bergi, the bottom skate, is a species of skate in the family Arhynchobatidae found in the north-western Pacific Ocean. McEachran, J.D. and K.A. Dunn, 1998. Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2):271-290.{{FishBase |genus= Bathyraja |species= bergi| month = February | year = 2015}}{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/arhynchobatidae/ | title = Family ARHYNCHOBATIDAE Fowler 1934 (Softnose Skates or Longtail Skates) | access-date= 20 November 2024 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 22 September 2018}}

Works

Nomogenesis; or, Evolution Determined by Law (1922){{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Nomogenesis: or, Evolution determined by law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5Q5AAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1969|publisher=M.I.T. Press}}
"Fresh-water fishes of Russia" (1923)
Discovery of Kamchatka and Bering's Kamchatka Voyages (1924)
Russian discoveries in the Pacific (1926){{cite book|author1=Lev Semenovich Berg|author2=Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR.|title=Russian discoveries in the Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zK66GwAACAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1926|publisher=Published by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR}}
"Principles of climatology" (1927){{cite book|author=Лев Симонович Берг|title=Основый климатологии|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ULOPAAACAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1927|publisher=Гос. изд-во}} (reprinted 1938) {{cite web|title=Основы климатологии|url=http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/4153101/}}
Geographical zones of the U.S.S.R. (1937){{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Geographical zones of the U.S.S.R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzfvHAAACAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|date=1937}}
"Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries. Volume 1-3. Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd, Jerusalem. 1962-65 (Russian version published 1948-49)."{{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries: Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredelʹnykh stran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cT_xAAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1965|publisher=Israel Program for Scientific Translations; [available from the Office of Technical Services, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington]}}
"Natural regions of the U.S.S.R." (1950){{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Natural regions of the U.S.S.R.|url=https://archive.org/details/naturalregionsof00berg|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1950|publisher=Macmillan}}
"Classification of fishes, both recent and fossil" (1940){{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Classification of fishes both recent and fossil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNYMAQAAIAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1965|publisher=Reprinted by Document Reproduction Unit, Thai National Documentation Centre, Applied Scientific Research Corp. of Thailand}}
Loess as a product of weathering and soil formation {{cite book|author=Lev Semenovich Berg|title=Loess as a product of weathering and soil formation: Less kak produkt vyvetrivaniya i pochvoobrazovaniya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYU1AAAAMAAJ|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1964|publisher=Israel Program for Scientific Translations|isbn=9780598261564}}

Taxa described by him

See :Category:Taxa named by Lev Berg

Eponymous taxa

The Tropical lanternbelly, Acropoma leobergi is a species of the genus Acropoma described as having a luminous behind the anus that resembles a "U" in shape. The species is native to the Arafura Sea.{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/acropomatiformes/ | title = Order ACROPOTAMIFORMES: Families SCOMBROPIDAE, CHAMPSODONTIDAE, CREEDIIDAE, HEMEROCOETIDAE, HOWELLIDAE, SYNAGROPIDAE, MALAKICHTHYIDAE, ACROPOMATIDAE, SYMPHYSANODONTIDAE, EPIGONIDAE, POLYPRIONIDAE, STEREOLEPIDIDAE, LATEOBRACIDAE, GLAUCOSOMATIDAE, PEMPHERIDAE, BATHYCLUPEIDAE, PENTACEROTIDAE, OSTRACOBERYCIDAE, BANJOSIDAE and DINOLESTIDAE | access-date= 2 May 2023 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 22 September 2018}}
The Bottom skate, Bathyraja bergi Dolganov, 1983, is a species of skate in the family Arhynchobatidae found in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/arhynchobatidae/ | title = Family ARHYNCHOBATIDAE Fowler 1934 (Softnose Skates or Longtail Skates) | access-date= 4 May 2023 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 22 September 2018}}