Stephen Jay Gould dead

[mk]

link.

May he rest in peace.

 

[Electric Amish]

I've never heard of him.

amish

 

[joohang]

In July 1981, when he was 40, Gould learned he had abdominal mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer usually associated with exposure to asbestos.

Damn.. Must've been 2 painful decades to live.

 

[Eli]

In "The Panda's Thumb," discussing a type of mite, he wrote: "Fifteen eggs, including but a single male, develop within the mother's body. The male emerges within his mother's shell, copulates with all his sisters and dies before birth.

:Q

lol..

 

[glen]

Has his rival, RIchard Dawkin commented on it yet?

 

[kuk]

Very sad ... it's a great loss for science.
There are a lot of his books in my bookshelf, and although I've never read them, I remember my dad commenting the stories before I went to bed.

Yeah, I have weird parents ...

 

[kgraeme]

The body may have died, but the ideas remain. Thank you Mr. Gould.

 

[CarpeDeo]

Gould is the leading figurehead in the 'punctuated equilibrium' theory of evolution (goes against 'gradual change' ideas of Darwin).

If he was right about mankind being the product of time + matter + chance . . . death isn't much of a loss for him I guess.

But if he was wrong . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[polypterus]

Just saw this on cnn. I always liked his ideas and writing.

And for less-informed people, he was the scientist in the episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa unearths the "angel."

dc

 

[Danman]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
I've never heard of him.

amish

Me either.

 

[exp]

RIP

 

[LanEvoVI]

oh crap...he was the graduation speaker at my college's commencement ceremony 3 years ago...

he gave a GREAT speech...very funny and informative...

may he rest in peace...

 

[DonaldC]

Another great mind gone but not forgotten.

 

[XZeroII]

We learned about him in Philosophy this semester. I wish I could remember what he was about...

 

[her209]

RIP.

 

[exp]

Two of my favorite Gould quotes:

"Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty."

"The fundamentalists, by 'knowing' the answers before they start (examining evolution), and then forcing nature into the straitjacket of their discredited preconceptions, lie outside the domain of science-or of any honest intellectual inquiry."