Niles Eldredge (; born August 25, 1943) is an American
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize ...
and
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, who, along with
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Goul ...
, proposed the theory of
punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...
in 1972.
Education
Eldredge began his undergraduate studies in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Before completing his degree he switched to the study of
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...
under
Norman D. Newell. It was at this time that his work at the American Museum of Natural History began, under the combined Columbia University-American Museum graduate studies program.
Eldredge graduated ''
summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by the Church of England in 1754 as King's ...
in 1965, and enrolled in the university's doctoral program while continuing his research at the museum. He completed his PhD in 1969.
Career and research
Paleontology
In 1969, Eldredge became a curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...
, and subsequently a curator in the Invertebrate Paleontology section, a position from which he recently retired. He was also an adjunct professor at the
City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pro ...
. His specialty was the evolution of mid-Paleozoic
Phacopida
Phacopida ("lens-face") is an order of trilobites that lived from the Late Cambrian to the Late Devonian. It is made up of a morphologically diverse assemblage of taxa in three related suborders.
Characteristics
Phacopida had 8 to 19 thoraci ...
trilobites, a group of extinct
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
s that lived between 543 and 245 million years ago.
Evolutionary theory
Eldredge and
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Goul ...
proposed
punctuated equilibria in 1972. Punctuated equilibrium is a refinement to evolutionary theory. It describes patterns of descent taking place in "fits and starts" separated by long periods of stability.
Eldredge went on to develop a hierarchical vision of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
ary and
ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
systems. Around this time, he became focused on the rapid destruction of many of the world's habitats and species. In his book ''Unfinished Synthesis'' (1985), he proposed an
extended evolutionary synthesis
The extended evolutionary synthesis consists of a set of theoretical concepts argued to be more comprehensive than the earlier modern synthesis of evolutionary biology that took place between 1918 and 1942. The extended evolutionary synthesis w ...
.
Throughout his career, he has used repeated patterns in the history of life to refine ideas on how the evolutionary process actually works. Eldredge is proponent of the importance of environment in explaining the patterns in evolution.
Eldredge is a critic of the
gene-centered view of evolution
With gene defined as "not just one single physical bit of DNA utall replicas of a particular bit of DNA distributed throughout the world", the gene-centered view of evolution, gene's eye view, gene selection theory, or selfish gene theory hol ...
. His most recent venture is the development of an alternative account to the gene-based notions of
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evo ...
to explain human behavior.
He has published more than 160 scientific articles, books, and reviews, including ''Reinventing Darwin'', an examination of current controversies in evolutionary
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
, and ''Dominion'', a consideration of the ecological and evolutionary past, present, and future of ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture ...
''.
Since 2013, Eldredge has been listed on the Advisory Council of the
National Center for Science Education
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding ...
.
Publications
* With J. Cracraft (eds.) 1979. ''Phylogenetic Analysis and Palaeontology''. Columbia University Press, New York
* With J. Cracraft. 1980. ''Phylogenetic Patterns and the Evolutionary Process. Method and Theory in Comparative Biology''. Columbia University Press, New York, 349 p. Japanese edition, Soju Shobo, 1990
* 1982. ''The Monkey Business: A Scientist Looks at Creationism''. Pocket Books, New York. 157 p. Japanese edition, 1992
* With I. Tattersall. 1982. ''The Myths of Human Evolution''. Columbia University Press, New York. 197 p. Japanese edition arranged through Columbia U. Press.; Spanish edition 1986: Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico; Portuguese ed.: 1984, Zahar Editores, Rio de Janeiro; Italian ed., 1984: Boringheri
* With S. M. Stanley (eds.). 1984. ''Living Fossils''. Springer Verlag, New York.
* 1985. ''Time Frames''. Simon and Schuster, New York. 240 pp. Great Britain: Heilman; Princeton University reprint edition. Italian edition, 1991, hopefulmonster editore
* 1985. ''Unfinished Synthesis: Biological Hierarchies and Modern Evolutionary Thought''. Oxford University Press, New York
* 1987. ''Life Pulse: Episodes in the History of Life''. Facts on File, New York. Pelican edition (Great Britain)
* (ed.). 1987. ''Natural History Reader on Evolution''. Columbia University Press, New York
* 1989. ''Macroevolutionary Dynamics: Species, Niches and Adaptive Peaks''. McGraw Hill, New York. Japanese edition: McGraw Hill Publishing Co., Japan, Ltd.ëë
* With D. Eldredge and G. Eldredge. 1989. ''The Fossil Factory''. Addison Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Massachusetts
* 1991. ''The Miner's Canary: Extinctions Past and Present''. Prentice Hall Books, New York; English edition: Virgin Publishing, Ltd.; Korean edition: Moeum Publishers; Italian edition: Sperling & Kupfer. German Edition: Spektrum; U.S. paperback edition: Princeton University Press
* 1991. ''Fossils: The Evolution and Extinction of Species''. Photographs by Murray Alcosser. Abrams, New York; Australian edition: Houghton Mifflin; English edition: Aurum Press; German edition: Belser Verlag
* (ed.). 1992. ''Systematics, Ecology and the Biodiversity Crisis''. Columbia University Press, New York
* With
M. Grene. 1992. ''Interactions: The Biological Context of Social Systems''. Columbia University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
* 1995. ''Reinventing Darwin: The Great Debate at the High Table of Evolutionary Theory''. John Wiley and Sons, New York; English edition: Orion; Italian edition: Giulio Einaudi Editore
* 1995. ''Dominion''. Henry Holt and Co; paperback edition, University of California Press, 1997
* 1998. ''Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis''. Princeton University Press. Portugal: Dinalivre; China/Taiwan: International Publishing Co.; Poland: Proscynski; Japan: Seidosha; Spain: TusQuets; Italy: Giulio Einaudi Editore
* 1999. ''The Pattern of Evolution''. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York
* 2000. ''The Triumph of Evolution...And the Failure of Creationism''. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York
* (ed.). 2002. ''Life on Earth: An Encyclopaedia of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution''. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California
* 2004. ''Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene''. W.W. Norton, New York
* 2005. ''Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life''. W.W. Norton, New York
* 2014. ''Extinction and evolution : what fossils reveal about the history of life'', ; Firefly Books, Toronto
* 2014. ''Concrete Jungle. New York City and Our Last Best Hope for a Sustainable Future''. University of California Press, Oakland.
* 2015. ''Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond''. Columbia University Press, New York, New York.
* 2016. With T. Pievani, E. Serrelli, and I. Tëmkin (eds.). ''Evolutionary Theory. A Hierarchical Perspective''. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Personal life
Eldredge enjoys playing
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
and is an avid collector of 19th century
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a so ...
s; he has more than 500 in his home in
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,[cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a so ...]
s (the musical instruments), which he uses as a comparison with that of the development of
trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...
s. The differences between them are meant to highlight the failures of
intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
by comparing a system that is definitely designed, with a system that is not designed.
Political activism
In January 2017, Eldredge became an 'Initiator' for the
Refuse Fascism
Refuse Fascism is a U.S.-based anti-fascist coalition organization, led by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. Until the 2020 United States presidential election, it was characterized by its call for the removal of the Trump administration by ...
movement launched in the United States just months after the
2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The movement was an effort to deny
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's successor -
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
- from taking office on
Inauguration Day
The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the pres ...
(January 20, 2017) The group's aim was to 'stop the
Trump-Pence regime before it starts.'
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eldredge, Niles
1943 births
Living people
Evolutionary biologists
Extended evolutionary synthesis
Human evolution theorists
American paleontologists
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Critics of creationism
People from Brooklyn
People from Ridgewood, New Jersey
People associated with the American Museum of Natural History
Punctuated equilibrium
Scientists from New York City
Scientists from New Jersey