Andreas Wagner

External Professor




Andreas Wagner is professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. His research revolves around the question how innovation occurs in both biological and technological evolution. Wagner has authored more than 200 scientific publications in journals that include Nature, Science, and PNAS, as well as several books, including the two scientific monographs, Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems (Princeton University Press, 2005), and The Origins of Evolutionary Innovations (Oxford University Press, 2011). Wagner received his Ph.D in 1995 at Yale University, where his research won the J.S. Nicholas prize for best dissertation in his field. He has lectured widely worldwide, and held research fellowships at several institutions, such as the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin, Germany, and the Institut des Hautes Etudes in Bures-sur-Yvette, France. Wagner is an elected member of the EMBO, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and a member of the Austrian Academy of Science. An Austrian born U.S. citizen, he currently lives in Zurich, Switzerland.


Primary Institution: University of Zurich

Role/Title: Professor

Topics of Interest: Biology - Evolution - Network Theory - Technology/Innovation

How SFI changes your mind: Through cross-fertilizing conversations and collaborations with scientists from areas that I am almost completely ignorant in.

When and how you first got involved with SFI: 1993, as a summer school student, and after that 1995-1996 as a postdoc

Favorite Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Favorite Film: Dark Star



Research Projects