Members will have been saddened to read in the media of the death on May 21 of Stephen Jay Gould at the age of 60.
Stephen Jay Gould was probably the most popular palaeontologist in the world. He was the leading student of fossil snails of the Bahamas. He was professor of zoology at Harvard University. Most will have known him through his books and essays on evolution. Many of his titles were collections of essays from his monthly column in the American
journal “Natural History”. They included vintage best sellers such as Bully for Brontosaurus, The Panda’s Thumb, and Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. I was privileged to hear him speak when he gave the 5th Huxley Lecture at the Institute of Biology AGM in 1999. His talk was fast. It was profound. He digressed. He was witty. He was difficult to follow. It was provocative. It was definitely not dull!
His main contribution to evolutionary science was the punctuated equilibrium theory. This idea, probably wrong, is that evolution advances in short bursts followed by long periods of stability. This was eloquently argued in Wonderful Life, a discussion of the implications of fossil findings in the Burgess Shales. The publication of this theory reinvigorated serious debate among his peers and stimulated much creative thought about mechanisms of evolution. To paraphrase Prof Steve Jones in his tribute to Gould (Guardian Unlimited May 23, 2002) Steve Jay Gould belonged to the school of evolution by jerks, whereas he (Jones) was in the school of evolution by creeps!
So, his legacy is much more than simply a handsome number of texts popular with the layman. No, he was a big thinker who, with good humour and enthusiasm, challenged fellow thinkers to defend their theories. In so doing they sharpened their minds and re-presented their ideas more lucidly. Thus the world is a richer place as a result of his contribution and poorer without him in it.
David Walker
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