Lynn Margulis

Born Lynn Petra Alexander, her parents were Jewish, but young Lynn was not raised within the faith. Her father, a prominent lawyer, often expressed disdain for organized religion, a sentiment his daughter clearly inherited. She instead embraced a profound, if secular, reverence for the natural world.

Margulis, though not religiously Jewish, definitely had the "chutzpah" gene in full force. She was a tenacious and often confrontational scientist, challenging established paradigms with a ferocity that would make any bubbe kvell. Her work on endosymbiosis, initially dismissed, is now a cornerstone of modern biology.

Her contributions to evolutionary biology, particularly her focus on symbiosis as a driving force in evolution, earned her numerous accolades and a spot among the titans of scientific thought. While she might not have lit Shabbat candles, she certainly illuminated the intricacies of life on Earth.