Stephen Jay Gould
author profile
born
September 10, 1941
died
May 20, 2002
gender
male
place of birth
New York City, New York, United States
genre
Nonfiction, Science
about this author
Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Most of Gould's empirical research was on land snails. Gould helped develop the theory of punctuated equilibrium, in which evolutionary stability is marked by instances of rapid change. He contributed to evolutionary developmental biology. In evolutionary theory, he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. He campaigned against creationism and proposed ...more
books by Stephen Jay Gould
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quotes by Stephen Jay Gould
"We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within."
— Stephen Jay Gould (The Mismeasure of Man)
— Stephen Jay Gould (The Mismeasure of Man)
"We have become, by the power of a glorious evolutionary accident called intelligence, the stewards of life's continuity on earth. We did not ask for this role, but we cannot abjure it. We may not be suited to it, but here we are."
— Stephen Jay Gould (The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History)
— Stephen Jay Gould (The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History)
"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question."
— Stephen Jay Gould
— Stephen Jay Gould












