Peter Douglas Ward (born May 12, 1949) is an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Sprigg Institute of Geobiology at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. He has written numerous popular science works for a general audience and is also an adviser to the Microbes Mind Forum. In 2000, along with his co-author Donald E. Brownlee, he co-originated the term '' Rare Earth'' and developed the

Medea hypothesis The Medea hypothesis is a term coined by paleontologist Peter Ward (paleontologist), Peter Ward for a hypothesis that contests the Gaia hypothesis, Gaian hypothesis and proposes that multicellular life, understood as a superorganism, may be self-d ...

alleging that multicellular life is ultimately self-destructive.

Life and work

His parents, Joseph and Ruth Ward, moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Ward grew up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, attending Franklin High School, and he spent time during summers at a family summer cabin on

Orcas Island Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, in northwestern Washington, United States. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' from Juan Vicente de Güemes P ...

. Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, the

NASA Astrobiology Institute The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) was established in 1998 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) "to develop the field of astrobiology and provide a scientific framework for flight missions." In December 2019 the institute' ...

, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

(where he received his Ph.D. in 1976), and the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

. He was elected as a Fellow of the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...

in 1984. Ward specializes in the

Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, also known as the K–T extinction, was the extinction event, mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth approximately 66 million years ago. The event cau ...

, the

Permian–Triassic extinction event The Permian–Triassic extinction event (also known as the P–T extinction event, the Late Permian extinction event, the Latest Permian extinction event, the End-Permian extinction event, and colloquially as the Great Dying,) was an extinction ...

, and

mass extinction An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp fall in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. It occ ...

s generally. He has published books on

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and the

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

. His 1992 book ''On Methuselah's Trail'' received a "Golden Trilobite Award" from the

Paleontological Society The Paleontological Society, formerly the Paleontological Society of America, is an international organisation devoted to the promotion of paleontology. The Society was founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was incorporated in April 1968 in ...

as the best popular science book of the year. Ward also serves as an adjunct professor of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. His book ''The End of Evolution'' was published in 1994. In it, he discussed in three parts, each about an extinction event on earth. This book was rewritten and published in 2000 as ''Rivers in Time''. Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling '' Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe'', published in 2000, thereby co-originating the term '' Rare Earth''. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. In 2001, his book '' Future Evolution'' was published, featuring illustrations by artist Alexis Rockman. Ward and Brownlee are also co-authors of the book '' The Life and Death of Planet Earth'', which discusses the Earth's future and eventual demise as it is ultimately destroyed by a warming and expanding Sun. The book picks up where ''Rare Earth'' leaves off, this time talking about how and why the Earth and its ability to support complex and especially intelligent life is actually not just rare in space, but also in time. See also Future of the Earth. According to Ward's 2007 book, ''Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future'', all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating "this is how the world ends." Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction. Recently, Ward has slowly started to shift his interest toward climate change because of his experiences with studying mass extinctions, as well as justifying why intelligent life, including humanity, is especially even rarer than complex life in general in terms of both space and time, as intelligent life only lasts for just a few thousand years before finally collapsing and going extinct, as seen in the book ''The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps,'' which documents the effects of ongoing and future

man-made climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. However, in 2014, Ward returned to his roots as a paleontologist with his book ''A New History of Life'', co-authored with Joe Kirschvink, and in his 2018 book, ''Lamarck's Revenge''. Ward is the father of indie musician and producer Nick Ward of the Seattle band

Hey Marseilles Hey Marseilles is an indie folk and chamber pop band from Seattle, Washington (state), Washington founded in 2006 and active until 2019. History The band self-released its first album in 2008 and opened early in its career for groups such as M ...

Medea hypothesis

The Medea hypothesis is a term coined by Ward for a hypothesis that contests the Gaian hypothesis, proposing that multicellular life, understood as a

superorganism A superorganism, or supraorganism, is a group of synergetically interacting organisms of the same species. A community of synergetically interacting organisms of different species is called a '' holobiont''. Concept The term superorganism is ...

, is self-destructive or

suicidal Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or acad ...

, allowing a return to simpler life-forms.

Appearances

Peter Ward was featured in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

'' series (2001) to discuss the evidence for evolution in the geologic record and has appeared on '' NOVA scienceNOW''. He was also one of the scientists on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

's '' Animal Armageddon ''(2009). Ward is also a guest on ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...

'', a radio program that mostly specializes on paranormal activity and other unexplained phenomena.

Selected works

Books

* ''In Search of Nautilus: Three Centuries of Scientific Adventures in the Deep Pacific to Capture a Prehistoric, Living Fossil'' (1988) OCLC 17840660 * ''On Methuselah's Trail: Living Fossils and the Great Extinctions'' (1992) * ''The Call of Distant Mammoths: Why the Ice Age Mammals Disappeared'' (1997) * ''Time Machines: Scientific Exploration of Deep Time'' (1998) * ''Rivers in Time: the Search for Clues to Earth's Mass Extinctions'' (2000) * ''Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe'' with Donald Brownlee (2000) * ''Future Evolution: An Illuminated History of Life to Come'' (2001) * ''The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World'' with Donald Brownlee (2003) * ''Gorgon: Obsession, Paleontology, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History'' (2004) * ''Life as We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life'' (2005) * ''Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere'' (2006) * ''Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future'' (2007) * ''The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive?'' (2009) * ''The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps'' (2010) * ''A New History of Life: The radical new discoveries about the origins and evolution of life on Earth'' with Joe Kirschvink (2015) * ''Lamarck's Revenge: How Epigenetics Is Revolutionizing Our Evolution's Past and Present'' (2018)

Journal articles

* * *

References

Sources

* ''The Science of Doom: Peter Ward takes on the great unknowns'', Pacific Northwest magazine (

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

), December 11, 2005, p. 12ff

External links

Collection of interviews of Peter Ward

Peter Ward faculty page at the University of Washington

Video of interview/discussion about mass extinctions with Peter Ward
and

Carl Zimmer Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is an American popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such ...

on Bloggingheads.tv
Video discussion about the link between paleontology & astrobiology with Peter Ward
and

on Bloggingheads.tv
Peter Ward lecture on the Medea hypothesis and mass extinctions
* (April 2013) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Peter 1949 births American paleontologists American science writers University of Washington faculty American science teachers Living people American astrobiologists Scientists from Seattle American non-fiction environmental writers Franklin High School (Seattle) alumni Academic staff of the University of Adelaide