Stephen Jay Gould

1941-2002American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist,

historian of sciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/gouldsj.html

Education

• Undergraduate at Antioch

• Studied at the University of Leeds, in England

• Completed his graduate work at Columbia

• Immediately hired by Harvard University

Career

• Professor of geology and curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at harvard’s museum of comparative zoology

• Awarded the title of professor of zoology• Awarded fellowship into the American

Association for the Advancement of Science• Served as president of the paleontological

society (1985-1986) and the society for the study of evolution (1990-1991)

• Elected into the body of the National Academy of Sciences

Gould As a Public Figure

• Wrote popular science essays in ‘Natural History’ magazine

• essays were reprinted in collected volumes, such as The Panda's Thumb and The Flamingo's Smile

• books such as The Mismeasure of Man Wonderful Life and Full House

• passionate advocate of evolutionary theory and wrote prolifically on the subject

Gould As a Public Figure• recurring theme in his writings is the history and

development of evolutionary, and pre-evolutionary, thinking

• an enthusiastic baseball fan and made frequent references to the sport

• proud Darwinist

Gould As a Public Figure• spent much of his time fighting against

creationism(and the related constructs such as Intelligent Design), including providing expert testimony against creationism in the McLean vs Arkansas, and what he regarded as other forms of pseudoscience.

• Once voiced a cartoon version of himself on an episode of the animated television program, The Simpsons

Personal Life• Born and raised in Queens in New York City• Father Leonard was a court stenographer, and

his mother Eleanor an artist• When five years old his father took him to the

"Hall of Dinosaurs" in the American Museum of Natural History, where he first met Tyrannesaurus rex. "I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck," Gould once recalled. It was in that moment that he decided he would become a paleontologist.

Personal Life• Raised in a Jewish home but preferred to be

called an agnostic• twice married; to Deborah Lee in 1965 which

ended in divorce, and to artist Rhonda Roland Shearer in 1995

• two children, Jesse and Ethan, by his first marriage

Gould As a Scientist• Most closely identified with his theory of

“punctuated equilibrium,” first formulated in 1972. 

• Punctuated equilibrium holds that evolution occurred primarily in relatively rapid periods of speciation rather than taking place in slow, gradual transformations through the process of natural selection.

• Believed that most species remain largely stable over long periods of time before some cataclysmic event sets rapid change in motion.

• Once controversial theory has become the consensus view of paleontologists based on fossil record.

Gould As a Scientist• Distinguished between evolution, which he

described as “a fact,” and the theory of evolution, which “is a theory.

• Empirical evidence for evolution easily met that high standard, he believed, despite the conceivability that new evidence could arise to raise doubts. 

Gould As a Scientist• Made three general arguments for evolution. 

First, he pointed to the undeniable evidence of evolution within species, such as the evolving of anti-biotic resistant strains of

bacteria. 

Second, Gould argued from the imperfections that appear in so many species.  An engineer, starting from scratch, could design better limbs in each than legs of rat, wings of birds, fins of fish and hands of human

Gould As a Scientist

Finally, Gould found compelling evidence for evolution in the fossil record of transitional

species.  Gould pointed to examples of fossils that demonstrated the route from one species to another. 

Controversies• Expressed frustration that creationist critics

frequently cited his attempts to refine aspects of Darwin’s theory of natural selection as evidence that scientists seriously questioned the underlying “fact” of evolution, not just its mechanisms

• Man’s presence on earth, in Gould’s view, is an incredibly improbable event, not the realized vision of an intelligent designer.  Without just the right events wiping out just the right species at just the right times, none of us would be here

Controversies•  Claimed creationism is “nonscientific” and thus

has no place in a science classroom.  • Counts among his proudest achievements his

part in the legal battle to keep creationism out of public schools

• He appeared as anexpert witnesses in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that state’s new “balanced treatment” law 

• The law, backed by fundamentalists, required teachers who covered evolution in their biology classes to also discuss the creationist critique of evolution and the evidence for “intelligent design.” 

Controversies• At the trial, Gould testified creationists distorted both

geological evidence and scientific studies on fossil evidence of evolutionary transformation

• Wrote of one high school teacher, asked what he would do if the law was upheld, “looked up and said, in his calm and dignified voice: It would be my tendency not to comply.  I am not a revolutionary or a martyr, but I have a responsibility to my students, and I cannot forego them.” 

• Recalling the incident, Gould added a benediction: “God bless the teachers of this world.”

 

Controversies• Believed science education was in a sorry state

after the Scopes trial in Tennessee and the trial in Arkansas

• No improvement came about, he argued, until the success of the Russian Sputnick in 1957 finally roused Americans to see the dangers of a second-rate science curriculum.   

• Argued that a “strong consensus accepted for decades by leading scientific and religious thinkers alike” saw no conflict between evolution and religion 

Controversies• In 1999 book, Rock of Ages: Science and

Religion in the Fullness of Life, he strenuously contended that science and religion occupied separate non-overlapping domains and if each stuck to their appropriate missions, no difficulties between the two could ever arise

•   Religion and science can, each in their own way, “enrich our practical and ethical lives.”  Just as science is of no help in answering the question of how we ought to live, Gould insisted, religion tells us nothing about the laws of nature.

Controversies

• In 1999 book, Rock of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life, he strenuously contended that science and religion occupied separate non-overlapping domains and if each stuck to their appropriate missions, no difficulties between the two could ever arise

•   Religion and science can, each in their own way, “enrich our practical and ethical lives.”  Just as science is of no help in answering the question of how we ought to live, Gould insisted, religion tells us nothing about the laws of nature.

Life Challenges• Diagnosed with abdominal mesothelioma in 1982• Later published a column in Discover titled”The

Median Isn’t the Message” in which he discusses his discovery that mesotheliomapatients had only a median lifespan of eight months after diagnosis

• Described the research he uncovered behind this number, and his relief upon the realization that statistics are not prophecy

• After his diagnosis and receiving an experimental treatment, Gould continued to live for nearly twenty years

Life Challenges

• It was during his bout with abdominal mesothelioma that became a user of marajaunia to alleviate the nausea associated with his cancer treatments

• According to Gould, his use of the illegal drug had the "most important effect" on his eventual cure

• His personal success with the substance led him to become a medical marijuana advocate later in his life

Steven Jay Gould died from a metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung (i.e.lung cancer which was unrelated to his abdominal mesothelioma) at his home in New York on May 20, 2002.