Joseph Felsenstein

Joseph Felsenstein (April 9, 1942) is an American evolutionary biologist renowned for his work on phylogenetics and computational biology. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Genome Sciences and the Department of Biology at the University of Washington. Felsenstein is best known for developing the phylogenetic inference method known as the Felsenstein tree-pruning algorithm, or more commonly, the Felsenstein algorithm, which is foundational in the field of computational phylogenetics.

Biography

Joseph Felsenstein was born on April 9, 1942. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a degree in Zoology in 1964. He then went on to complete his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of Chicago in 1968, under the guidance of James F. Crow. After completing his doctorate, Felsenstein held various academic positions before joining the faculty at the University of Washington, where he has spent the majority of his career.

Contributions to Science

Felsenstein's contributions to evolutionary biology and computational biology are vast. He is perhaps most famous for solving a long-standing problem in phylogenetic inference related to the statistical inconsistency of earlier methods, such as those based on parsimony. In 1981, he introduced the Felsenstein algorithm, which allowed for the consideration of the evolutionary history of sequences without the biases introduced by the varying rates of evolution among lineages. This method has been implemented in the widely used phylogenetic analysis software PHYLIP, which Felsenstein developed.

Beyond the Felsenstein algorithm, he has contributed to the development of methods for estimating phylogenetic trees from DNA sequence data, including models that account for varying rates of evolution across sites (rate heterogeneity). His work has also extended into areas of population genetics, coalescent theory, and the development of statistical methods for analyzing comparative data.

Awards and Honors

Joseph Felsenstein has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to science, including being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. He has also been awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society of London in 2015, recognizing his major advances in evolutionary biology.

Legacy

Felsenstein's work has fundamentally changed the way biologists reconstruct the evolutionary history of species. His development of the Felsenstein algorithm and contributions to computational tools for phylogenetic analysis have enabled researchers to more accurately infer relationships among organisms. His influence extends beyond his own research contributions, as he has been a dedicated educator and mentor to numerous students in the fields of evolutionary biology and computational biology.

Selected Publications

• Felsenstein, J. (1981). "Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: A maximum likelihood approach." Journal of Molecular Evolution, 17(6), 368-376.
• Felsenstein, J. (1985). "Phylogenies and the comparative method." American Naturalist, 125(1), 1-15.
• Felsenstein, J. (2004). "Inferring Phylogenies." Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.

External Links

• Joseph Felsenstein's Homepage
• PHYLIP - Phylogeny Inference Package