The passing of Stephen J. Gould

[paulsamuel]

The passing of Stephen Jay Gould

A sad day as evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould dies today at his home in Manhattan.

His writings have inspired me throughout my career and are responsible for the direction of my education.

I am reading his opus, recently published, "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory."

Thank you Stephen Jay Gould

 

[Adam]

Sad news indeed, he was a valuable thinker.

 

[Counterbalance]

Received the news from a friend last night via email. No question he will be missed by many.

Yes, sad news indeed.

 

[Xev]

What a pity that he died so young. He was only sixty.

He will be missed both as a scientist and writer of pop science. It takes a hell of a scientist to make the contributions he did to evolutionary theory, but he not only did, he shared his contributions with the great unwashed.

 

[BustedCrutch]

Pity? Yes, but he lived with a fatal cancer for 20 years.

He fought heroically.

 

[paulsamuel]

reply to crutch

According to the NY Times, the cancer he died of was unrelated to the cancer he beat in 1982.

 

[Shaman]

Stephen Jay Gould

Quote:
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In 2001 the library of congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America's eighty-three Living Legends - People who embody the "quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance." Each of these qualities finds full expresion in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen - and may not see again - for well over a century. (The Structure of Evolutionary Theory)
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Sad news. We have lost an invaluable human.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

very sad. just found out from reading this thread. i only started reading his work in the last few years, started with 'Conversations about the end of Time" with Umberto Eco, very thought provoking. Still have to go thru Full House.

a great loss.

 

[goofyfish]

I always enjoyed his (often heated) exchanges with Richard Dawkins, a more traditional Darwinian evolutionist (whose views I tend toward). Were it not for “popularizers” like Gould people like me wouldn't know anything about science and that would be a bad thing

Peace.

 

[Adam]

Goofyfish, I read a debate between Gould and Dawkins once, it was indeed interesting. And such people contributed to my own interest in various fields of science too. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes for this very reason.