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Stephen Jay Gould

  • Born September 10, 1941

  • Graduated Antioch College

  • Received a Ph.D. in paleontology at Columbia University

  • Joined the Harvard University faculty

  • Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium

    With Niles Eldredge, he developed in 1972 the theory of punctuated equilibrium, a revision of Darwinian theory proposing that the creation of new species through evolutionary change occurs not at slow, constant rates over millions of years but rather in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are then followed by long periods of stability during which organisms undergo little further change
  • Became a professor at Harvard University

  • From 1974 Gould regularly contributed essays to the periodical Natural History, and these were collected in several volumes

  • Ontogeny and Phylogeny

  • The Mismeasure of Man

  • Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle

  • Wonderful Life

  • Death on May 20, 2002