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Gould
Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In 1996, Gould was hired as the Vincent Astor Visiting Research Professor of Biology at New York University, where he divided his time teaching there and at Harvard. -
Punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium is considered Gould’s most significant contribution to evolutionary biology. He and Niles Eldredge in 1972 developed a theory that proposes that most evolution is characterized by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is infrequently punctuated by swift periods of branching speciation. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record. -
Snails for Knowledge
Most of Gould's empirical research was based on the land snail genera Poecilozonites and Cerion. He also made important contributions to evolutionary developmental biology, receiving professional recognition for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny (Wikipedia). -
NOMA
Stephen Gould put forth the idea of “Non-overlapping magisteria” or NOMA as it is sometimes referred to. “Science tries to document the factual character of the natural world and to develop theories that coordinate and explain these facts. Religion, on the other hand, operates in the equally important, but utterly different, realm of human purposes, meanings, and values—subjects that the factual domain of science might illuminate, but can never resolve." -
Natural History magazine
Gould was popularized to the public for his over 300 popular essays in a Natural History magazine. He has also written numerous books for all levels of students interested in evolutionary biology. In April 2000, the US Library of Congress named him a "Living Legend"
