GOULD, STEPHEN JAY

GOULD, STEPHEN JAY (1941–2002), U.S. paleontologist and author. Born in New York City, Gould was educated at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio (A.B., 1963), and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1967). After a year of teaching geology at Antioch, Gould accepted an appointment at Harvard in 1967, where he remained for the rest of his life. At his death Gould was the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, with a concurrent appointment in the Department of the History of Science.   Gould was a leading evolutionary biologist who developed (with Niles Eldredge) a theory of evolutionary development called "punctuated equilibrium," which states that species do not evolve at a steady, even rate, but in sudden bursts over relatively short (in evolutionary time) periods during speciation, after which they remain stable in form – that is, in a state of "equilibrium" – until they become extinct. While this theory has not been wholly accepted, much of it has, and was in the 1970s a fruitful focus of ongoing scientific debate. Gould became widely known, however, less for his academic work than for his prolific writing for a popular audience. As a columnist for Natural History magazine for 24 years and the author of many books (including several bestsellers), he was an eloquent popularizer of scientific discourse, educating the public about biology, geology, and evolution as well as issues such as scientific racism and the social context of science generally. He was a tireless advocate for good science and education and testified in a number of public hearings regarding the teaching of evolution in public schools. Probably his best-known work for a general audience is the classic The Mismeasure of Man (1981; revised edition 1996), an account of the fraudulent science and racist assumptions that lay at the origins of IQ testing. This instructive and realistic examination of how science is shaped by social values was a forceful intervention in an ongoing cultural and political debate in the 1980s that earned him the enmity of many on the political right. Gould's other works for general readers include collections of essays: Ever Since Darwin (1977), The Panda's Thumb (1980), Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (1983), The Flamingo's Smile (1985), An Urchin in the Storm (1987), Bully for Brontosaurus (1991); and The Lying Stones of Marrakech (2000); and books such as Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (1987), and Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1989). His academic works, beside journal articles, include Ontogeny and Philogeny (1977) and his final, comprehensive statement of his understanding of evolution, published the year he died, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002). (Drew Silver (2nd ed.)