Gould Biography

"Humans are not the end result of predictable evolutionary progress, but rather a fortuitous cosmic afterthought, a tiny little twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life, which if replanted from seed, would almost surely not grow this t wig again."
- Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould grew up in New York City. He graduated from Antioch College and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1967. Since then he has been Professor of Geology and Zoology at Harvard University. He considers himself primarily a palaeont ologist and an evolutionary biologist, though he teaches geology and the history of science as well. A frequent and popular speaker on the sciences, his published work includes Ontogeny and Phylogeny, a scholarly study of the theory of recapitulation; The Mismeasure of Man (Penguin 1983), winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for 1982; the popular collections of essays Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History (Penguin 1980), which received great acclaim: 'Unreservedly, they are brilliant' - New Scientist; The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (Penguin 1983), which won the 1981 American Book Award for Science; Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History (Penguin 1984); The Flamingo's Smile (Penguin 1987); Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle (Penguin 1988); An Urchin in the Storm (Penguin 1989); Wonderful Life (Penguin 1991), winner of The Science Book Prize for 1990; Bully for Brontosaurus (Penguin 1992); and Eight Little Piggies (Penguin 1994).