Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, taxonomist, and historian of science.
Stephen Jay Gould | |
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| Born | September 10, 1941 |
| Died | May 20, 2002 (aged 60) Manhattan, New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Antioch College, Columbia University |
| Known for | Punctuated equilibrium |
| Awards | Linnean Society of London's Darwin-Wallace Medal (2008) Paleontological Society Medal (2002) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Paleontology, Evolutionary biology, History of Science |
| Institutions | Harvard University, American Museum of Natural History, New York University |
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He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation.[1]
Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the latter years of his life, Gould also taught biology and evolution at New York University near his home in SoHo.
Gould's greatest contribution to science was the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972.[2] The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against the idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.
Most of Gould's empirical research was based on the snail genera Poecilozonites and Cerion. He also contributed to evolutionary developmental biology, and has received wide praise for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny. In evolutionary theory he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. He campaigned against creationism.
Many of Gould's Natural History essays were reprinted in collected volumes.
Stephen Jay Gould Media
Gould's inspiration to become a paleontologist: T. rex specimen AMNH 5027, American Museum of Natural History, New York City
The punctuated equilibrium model (above) consists of morphological stability followed by episodic bursts of evolutionary change via rapid cladogenesis. It is contrasted (below) to phyletic gradualism, a more gradual, continuous model of evolution.
In one of his popular science essays, Gould (1979) uses an illustration by Konrad Lorenz to highlight our unconscious emotional response to juvenile features, even when they are found in animals (or animated cartoons).
A spandrel from the Holy Trinity Church in Fulnek, Czech Republic.
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References
- ↑ Shermer, Michael (2002), "This View of Science" (PDF), Social Studies of Science, 32 (4): 489–525, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-20, retrieved 2011-06-06.
- ↑ Eldredge, Niles, and S. J. Gould (1972). "Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism." In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., Models in Paleobiology. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper and Company, pp. 82-115.