Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and the most widely read of the evolutionary theorists of the twentieth century.

Early Life and Education

Gould was born in 1941 in Queens, New York. He became interested in the fossils and the dinosaurs as a child.

He studied geology at Antioch College and took his doctorate in paleontology at Columbia University in 1967.

He taught at Harvard University and became the curator of the invertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

The Evolutionary Theory

Gould developed the theory of the punctuated equilibrium with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory holds that the species evolve in the short bursts of the change.

The theory challenged the gradualist account of the evolution. It became one of the most debated ideas of the modern biology.

He criticised the notion of the progress in the evolution. He argued that the evolution has no direction and no goal.

He opposed the sociobiology and the evolutionary psychology. The debate with E. O. Wilson was one of the most famous of the period.

He exposed the misuse of the science for the political purposes in the book The Mismeasure of Man.

The Popular Writing

Gould wrote a long series of the essays in the magazine Natural History. The essays were collected in the volumes such as Ever Since Darwin and The Panda's Thumb.

The essays explained the evolution to the general public with the wit and the erudition. He was one of the most gifted of the scientific essayists.

He wrote on the baseball and the other subjects. The essay collections reveal the range of his interests.

He won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for the essays. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Later Years and the Legacy

Gould was diagnosed with the abdominal mesothelioma in 1982 and given the few months to live. He survived for twenty years.

He wrote about the illness in the essay The Median Isn't the Message. The essay explains the meaning of the statistical data.

He died in 2002 in New York. He was one of the most influential of the biologists of the twentieth century.

He is remembered for the popularisation of the science and the critique of the pseudoscience. His work continues to be read and debated.

The Punctuated Equilibrium

Gould developed the theory of the punctuated equilibrium with Niles Eldredge. The theory holds that the species evolve in the short bursts.

The theory challenged the gradualist account of the evolution. It became one of the most debated ideas of the biology.

The theory is based on the patterns of the fossil record.

The Critique of the Progress

Gould argued that the evolution has no direction and no goal. He criticised the notion of the progress.

He opposed the sociobiology and the evolutionary psychology. The debate with Wilson was one of the most famous.

He exposed the misuse of the science for the political purposes.

The Mismeasure of Man

Gould published The Mismeasure of Man in 1981. The book criticises the scientific racism and the intelligence testing.

He showed the flaws in the studies that claimed to measure the intelligence. The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The book was revised and expanded in 1996.

The Essays

Gould wrote a long series of the essays in Natural History magazine. The essays were collected in the many volumes.

The essays explained the evolution to the general public. He was one of the most gifted of the scientific essayists.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for the essay collections.

The Illness

Gould was diagnosed with the abdominal mesothelioma in 1982. He was given the few months to live.

He survived for twenty years and wrote about the illness. The essay The Median Isn't the Message explains the statistics.

He continued to work and to write despite the illness.

The Legacy

Gould was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the honours from the scientific institutions.

He taught at Harvard University for the whole of his career. He trained a generation of the paleontologists.

He died in 2002 in New York.

The Personal Life

Gould married Deborah Lee in 1965 and later Rhonda Roland Shearer. He had two sons from the first marriage.

He was a devoted fan of the baseball and the opera. He wrote the essays on the baseball and its history.

He died in 2002 and was remembered for his contribution to the biology and the science writing.

The Reception

Gould was one of the most widely read of the scientists of his time. The essays and the books reached a large audience.

The critics and the admirers debated the punctuated equilibrium for decades. The theory remains a central topic of the evolutionary biology.

He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the honours from the scientific institutions.

See also

• Evolution
• Punctuated equilibrium
• Paleontology
• Science writing