Margie Profet
Encyclopedia
Margie Profet is an American evolutionary biologist with no formal biology training who created a decade-long controversy when she published her findings on the role of Darwinian evolution
in menstruation
, allergies and morning sickness
.
Detractors argued that little to no experimental evidence supported Profet's reasoning. But supporters—including U.C. Santa Barbara anthropologist Donald Symons
and U.C. Berkeley toxicologist Bruce Ames
considered her work a pioneering analysis of evolutionary theory in a never-before-studied, everyday context.
When Profet won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1993, international media took notice. New York Times reporter Natalie Angier called Profet's theory that menstruation protected the female mammal's reproductive canals a "radical new view". Scientific American, Time, Omni, and even People Magazine all followed with in-depth profiles of the 35-year-old "maverick" scientific prodigy.
Profet went on to publish two equally controversial bestselling books, 1995's Protecting Your Baby-To-Be: Preventing Birth Defects in the First Trimester and a 1997 follow up, Pregnancy Sickness: Using Your Body's Natural Defenses to Protect Your Baby-To-Be.
A graduate of Harvard University
, where Profet received a political philosophy degree in 1980; and University of California, Berkeley
, where in 1985 she received a bachelor's degree in physics, Profet returned to school in 1994, studying mathematics at the University of Washington
in Seattle, where she was awarded "visiting scholar" position in the astronomy department, an allied discipline. Several years later, she returned to Harvard, once again to study math.
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
in menstruation
Menstruation
Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining . It occurs on a regular basis in sexually reproductive-age females of certain mammal species. This article focuses on human menstruation.-Overview:...
, allergies and morning sickness
Morning sickness
Morning sickness, also called nausea gravidarum, nausea, vomiting of pregnancy , or pregnancy sickness is a condition that affects more than half of all pregnant women. Related to increased oestrogen levels, a similar form of nausea is also seen in some women who use hormonal contraception or...
.
Detractors argued that little to no experimental evidence supported Profet's reasoning. But supporters—including U.C. Santa Barbara anthropologist Donald Symons
Donald Symons
Donald Symons is an American anthropologist who is best known as one of the founders of evolutionary psychology, and for pioneering the study of human sexuality from an evolutionary perspective...
and U.C. Berkeley toxicologist Bruce Ames
Bruce Ames
Bruce Nathan Ames is an American biochemist. He is a professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute...
considered her work a pioneering analysis of evolutionary theory in a never-before-studied, everyday context.
When Profet won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1993, international media took notice. New York Times reporter Natalie Angier called Profet's theory that menstruation protected the female mammal's reproductive canals a "radical new view". Scientific American, Time, Omni, and even People Magazine all followed with in-depth profiles of the 35-year-old "maverick" scientific prodigy.
Profet went on to publish two equally controversial bestselling books, 1995's Protecting Your Baby-To-Be: Preventing Birth Defects in the First Trimester and a 1997 follow up, Pregnancy Sickness: Using Your Body's Natural Defenses to Protect Your Baby-To-Be.
A graduate of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where Profet received a political philosophy degree in 1980; and University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where in 1985 she received a bachelor's degree in physics, Profet returned to school in 1994, studying mathematics at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, where she was awarded "visiting scholar" position in the astronomy department, an allied discipline. Several years later, she returned to Harvard, once again to study math.