Hardy-Weinberg Law of Equilibrium

History

• English mathematician Geoffrey Hardy and German physician Wilhelm Weinberg independently worked and formulated mathematical theories of probability relating to the evolution of species and the factors that affect it. Their work was published in 1908. It holds that gene pools of large groups are inherently stable but even in the most stable gene pools evolution should be expected to occur given enough time.

Principles

• There are seven basic principles that will stop the process of evolution taking place, according to Palomar Community College District. The first of these principles is that gene mutation is not occurring within a species, secondly that natural selection is also absent. A large population is also required and that all members of the population are breeding. The fifth principle is that all mating within the population should be random and that each member of a species produces the same number of offspring. Finally, the Hardy-Weinberg law requires there to be no emigration into or out of the group.

Genes

• The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium revolves around the genetic make up of a population or species, references are consistently made to alleles and genotypes. An allele refers to alternate or different varieties of genes, alleles that are important to a physical trait occur in the same position in the chromosomes of a member of a species. A genotype can refer to the entire genetic construction of the member of a species or can refer to the genetic properties that refer to a single trait of a population.

Evolution

• The argument made by the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is that it is almost impossible for each of the seven principles that maintain the genetic characteristics of a population to remain in place. The Hardy-Weinberg principles helped define evolution theory in the early 20th century. The theory determined that evolution should be expected to take place in all populations all of the time.