Joseph Felsenstein

{{Short description|American phylogeneticist (born 1942)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Joe Felsenstein | image = Felsenstein.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Joseph Felsenstein | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|5|9}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | fields = Systematics Phylogenetics Population genetics Phylogenetic comparative methods | workplaces = University of Washington | alma_mater = University of Chicago | thesis_title = Statistical Inference and the Estimation of Phylogenies | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302396735 | thesis_year = 1968 | doctoral_advisor = Richard Lewontin<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id= 88820}}</ref> | notable_students = Fred W. Allendorf Michael Turelli Bruce Walsh | known_for = PHYLIP Felsenstein's tree-pruning algorithm | awards = {{no wrap|Sewall Wright Award {{small|(1993)}} Weldon Memorial Prize {{small|(2000)}} Darwin–Wallace Medal {{small|(2008)}} John J. Carty award {{small|(2009)}} International Prize for Biology {{small|(2013)}}}} | website ={{URL|http://www.gs.washington.edu/faculty/felsenstein.htm}} {{URL|http://evolution.genetics.washington.edu/phylip/felsenstein.html}} | relatives = Lee Felsenstein (brother) }}

'''Joseph "Joe" Felsenstein''' (born May 9, 1942<ref>{{Cite web|title = International Prize for biology {{!}} Japan Society for the Promotion of Science|url = http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/index.html|website = www.jsps.go.jp|access-date = 2015-12-03}}</ref>) is an American phylogeneticist and computational biologist, and a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Genome Sciences and Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is best known for his work on phylogenetic inference, and is the author of ''Inferring Phylogenies'', and principal author and distributor of the package of phylogenetic inference programs called PHYLIP. Closely related to his work on phylogenetic inference is his introduction of methods for making statistically independent comparisons using phylogenies.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = J. | doi = 10.1086/284325 | title = Phylogenies and the Comparative Method | journal = The American Naturalist | volume = 125 | pages = 1–2 | year = 1985 | issue = 1 | bibcode = 1985ANat..125....1F | s2cid = 9731499 }}</ref><ref name="scopus">{{Scopus|id= 7003647445}}</ref><ref name="googlescholar">{{GoogleScholar|vZq8qQ4AAAAJ}}</ref>

==Education== Felsenstein completed his undergraduate degree in 1964 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, researching in the laboratory of James F. Crow.<ref>[http://www.genetics.wisc.edu/faculty/profile.php?id=102 James F. Crow] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828012149/http://www.genetics.wisc.edu/faculty/profile.php?id=102 |date=2006-08-28 }}</ref> He completed a PhD at the University of Chicago in 1968, working under population genetics pioneer Richard Lewontin.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://protist.biology.washington.edu/bio2/people/bio.html?parecID%3D106 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828061314/http://protist.biology.washington.edu/bio2/people/bio.html?parecID=106 |archive-date=2006-08-28 }}</ref> He did a postdoc at the Institute of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh<ref name="autogenerated2" />, then joined the faculty at the University of Washington in the Department of Genetics.

==Research== In addition to his work in phylogenetics,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = J.| author-link1 =Joseph Felsenstein| title = Maximum Likelihood and Minimum-Steps Methods for Estimating Evolutionary Trees from Data on Discrete Characters | doi = 10.1093/sysbio/22.3.240 | journal = Systematic Biology | volume = 22 | issue = 3 | pages = 240–249 | year = 1973 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = J. | author-link1 = Joseph Felsenstein | title = Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: A maximum likelihood approach | journal = Journal of Molecular Evolution | volume = 17 | issue = 6 | pages = 368–376 | year = 1981 | pmid = 7288891 | bibcode = 1981JMolE..17..368F | s2cid = 8024924 }}</ref><ref name=jf1>{{Cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = J. | title = Numerical Methods for Inferring Evolutionary Trees | doi = 10.1086/412935 | journal = The Quarterly Review of Biology | volume = 57 | issue = 4 | pages = 379–404 | year = 1982 | s2cid = 53635900 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = Joseph | author-link1 = Joseph Felsenstein | date = July 1985 | title = Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap | journal = Evolution | volume = 39 | issue = 4 | pages = 783–791 | jstor = 2408678 | url = http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~nzhang/Stat366/Felsenstein85.pdf | archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20111230123012/http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~nzhang/Stat366/Felsenstein85.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-12-30 | doi = 10.2307/2408678 | pmid = 28561359 }}</ref> <ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Felsenstein | first1 = J. | doi = 10.1146/annurev.ge.22.120188.002513 | title = Phylogenies from Molecular Sequences: Inference and Reliability | journal = Annual Review of Genetics | volume = 22 | pages = 521–565 | year = 1988 | pmid = 3071258 }}</ref> Felsenstein is also noted for highly influential work in theoretical population genetics, including work on natural selection, migration and gene flow, linkage, speciation, and coalescence models.<ref>Felsenstein, J., and B. Taylor, eds. 1973. ''A Bibliography of Theoretical Population Genetics''. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Technical Information Center, Oak Ridge, Tenn.</ref><ref>Felsenstein, J. 2004. ''Inferring Phylogenies''. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass.</ref><ref>Felsenstein, J. 2005. [http://evolution.genetics.washington.edu/pgbook/pgbook.html ''Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics'' (free ebook)]</ref> Many of the research and statistical methods developed by Felsenstein have become major features and de facto standards in the field of phylogenomics. These include the use of Monte Carlo Markov chains for phylogenomic inference, applying Ronald Fisher's maximum likelihood to phylogenies rather than maximum parsimony<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Felsenstein |first=Joseph |date=1981-11-01 |title=Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: A maximum likelihood approach |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01734359 |journal=Journal of Molecular Evolution |language=en |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=368–376 |doi=10.1007/BF01734359 |issn=1432-1432|url-access=subscription }}</ref>, pruning algorightms<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hasegawa |first=Masami |last2=Kishino |first2=Hirohisa |last3=Saitou |first3=Naruya |date=1991-05-01 |title=On the maximum likelihood method in molecular phylogenetics |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02101285 |journal=Journal of Molecular Evolution |language=en |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=443–445 |doi=10.1007/BF02101285 |issn=1432-1432|url-access=subscription }}</ref>, the phylogenetic boostrap,<ref name=jf1/> and foundational software packages such as PHYLIP and LAMARC.

His 1985 research paper on bootstrapping in phylogenetics is one of the most cited scientific articles of all time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lemoine |first=F. |last2=Domelevo Entfellner |first2=J.-B. |last3=Wilkinson |first3=E. |last4=Correia |first4=D. |last5=Dávila Felipe |first5=M. |last6=De Oliveira |first6=T. |last7=Gascuel |first7=O. |date=April 2018 |title=Renewing Felsenstein’s phylogenetic bootstrap in the era of big data |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0043-0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=556 |issue=7702 |pages=452–456 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0043-0 |issn=1476-4687}}</ref>

==Awards== Felsenstein is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society of London in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences.<ref name=Carty>{{cite web|title=John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science |url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_carty |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=25 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229180532/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_carty |archive-date=29 December 2010 }}</ref> In 2013 he was awarded the International Prize for Biology by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.<ref name="jsps.go.jp">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-biol/index.html|title = International Prize for biology | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science}}</ref> He was awarded the Mendel Medal by The Genetics Society in 2026<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mendel Medal 2026 – Professor Joe Felsenstein |url=https://genetics.org.uk/medals-and-prizes/genetics-society-medals-and-lectures/mendel-medal/mendel-medal-2026-professor-joe-felsenstein/ |access-date=2026-05-06 |website=The Genetics Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-05-27|title=Exceptional scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society|url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2026/05/new-fellows-announcement-2026/|access-date=2026-05-31|website=Royal Society|language=en}}</ref>

The moth species ''Ufeus felsensteini'' was named in his honor.

==Personal life== Felsenstein is the older brother of early personal computer designer Lee Felsenstein.<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/pc.htm Early History of the Personal Computer]</ref>

An interview covering aspects of his academic career is part of the Distinguished Faculty Interview Series <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gs.washington.edu/news/interviews/index.htm|title=UW Genome Sciences: Distinguished Faculty Interview Series}}</ref> of the Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington.

== References == {{Reflist|30em}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felsenstein, Joseph}} Category:Living people Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Population geneticists Category:American evolutionary biologists Category:Computational phylogenetics Category:1942 births Category:University of Washington faculty Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Phylogenetics researchers