Posted by Jurassosaurus [63.191.13.52 - sdn-ap-014caburbP1322.dialsprint.net] on 21 May 2002 at 05.08.31 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: Someone just sent this to me: Stephen Jay Gould, Biologist and Theorist on Evolution, Dies at 60 posted by Hunter on 20 May 2002 at 20.41.22 ZuluTime:

     Gould was a favourite paleontologist and evolutionist of mine. He was a great evolutionary biologist. He co-authoured the theory of Punctuated Equilibria with Niles Eldredge. He wrote frickin continuously about, what seemed like, everything and he always welcomed a good debate.

Gould did more in his time than most scientist could dream of doing, and while this has earned him a fair amount of enemies as well as friends, he has always remained a respected figure.

I'd expect everyone on this board to know who Dr. Gould is, as he was a very prominent figure in the debates of Science vs Creationism. He testified in many court hearings on this matter, including the famous: McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, which effectively kicked creationism out of the classroom by stating, rather matter of factly: Creationism is in no way, shape or form, a science. Whenever a pro-creationism bill was ever being considered, Stephen Jay Gould was one of the first names seen coming from the opposing camp. Of all the enemies Gould made in his lifetime, I'm sure the majority of them must be pissed off creationists. >:)

Another thing that I always enjoyed about him, was that he was willing to point out the rediculousness of calling birds living dinosaurs. He never denied that birds descended from dinosaurs. In fact, he readily supported it, but he also realized that there are some major differences between the two and just because one descends from another, does not mean they should be classified in the same group. As he put it, if this is true "then we should all be called fish."

I always enjoyed the way he would pick apart the Bible and show us it's roots in history. Everything from the dual Genesis Chapter ones, to the pre-evolutionary theory of the Adamites. He even defended the views of Jean Baptiste Lamarck, showing the world that his views were almost identical to those of Darwin. His lectures were also apparently a site to see. Lecturers never wanted to go after him because of his nasty habit of going overtime.