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Early in his career, Gould and his colleague Niles Eldredge developed the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which describes the rate of speciation in the fossil record as occurring relatively rapidly, which then alternates to a longer period of evolutionary stability. [3]
May 16, 2017 · In 1946, Stephen Jay Gould saw the bones of a fossil T-rex towering above him. More recent research suggests T-rex held its head and body closer to the ground. His father was drafted into the Navy, so Stephen did not see much of him in his early years.
Feb 18, 2014 · Stephen Jay Gould studied snail fossils and worked at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the latter half of the twentieth century. He contributed to philosophical, historical, and scientific ideas in paleontology, evolutionary theory, and developmental biology.
- The Science of Form as An Engineering Science
- The Mechanics of Transspecific Evolution
- Parallelism, Convergence and The Principle of Limited Solutions
“A science of form is now being forged within evolutionary theory,” Gould announced, in a subtle but calculated turn of phrase (Gould 1970a, p. 77). His message could hardly have been missed by his colleagues, especially those accustomed to respecting disciplinary boundaries. Not paleontology, but evolutionary theorywas to be the crucible of the sc...
Recall that Gould’s science of form was a three-pronged venture consisting of statistical, computational and experimental approaches. These addressed a pair of broad problems in evolutionary paleontology: first, how is biological form produced (what morphogenetic rules are implicated in the production of complex structures) and second, what is the ...
Gould was ambitious, and recognized the value of identifying phenomena that, while downplayed by conventional evolutionary theory, nonetheless fell within the scope of his science of form. Especially intriguing were the bugbears of classical taxonomy: parallelism and convergence (Gould 1970a, pp. 109–112). Following a lead from D’Arcy Thompson, Gou...
- Max W Dresow
- dreso004@umn.edu
- 2017
May 24, 2002 · Gould regarded himself primarily as an evolutionary biologist, where his queries explored subjects from fossils to growth and development, speciation, extinction, adaptation as well as many more facets of the field.
Jun 13, 2002 · Gould was born in New York City, and traced his lifelong interest in palaeontology to an encounter as a five-year-old with a dinosaur skeleton in the American Museum there.
Feb 23, 2018 · After analyzing fossil records, Gould and Eldredge claimed to have evidence to contrast the standard theory. In particular, they based their claim on the fact that fossil records showed many gaps in the transitions from one species to another.
