Simon Conway Morris (born 1951) is an English

palaeontologist 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 ...

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biol ...

, and astrobiologist known for his study of the fossils of the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian explosion. The results of these discoveries were celebrated in

Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould ( ; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...

's 1989 book '' Wonderful Life''. Conway Morris's own book on the subject, ''The Crucible of Creation'' (1998), however, is critical of Gould's presentation and interpretation. Conway Morris, a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, holds to theistic views of biological evolution. He has held the Chair of Evolutionary Palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge since 1995.

Biography

Early years

Conway Morris was born on 6 November 1951. A native of

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

, Surrey, he was brought up in London, England. and went on to study geology at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

, achieving a First Class Honours degree. He then moved to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and completed a PhD at St John's College under Harry Blackmore Whittington. He is professor of evolutionary palaeobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge. He is renowned for his insights into early

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 ...

and his studies of

paleobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. An investigator in this field is known as a paleobiologist. Paleobiology is closely ...

. He gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture in 1996 on the subject of ''The History in our Bones''. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

at age 39, was awarded the Walcott Medal of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 1987 and the Lyell Medal of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1998.

Work

Conway Morris is based in the Department of Earth Sciences at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and is best known for his work on the Cambrian explosion, the Burgess Shale fossil fauna and similar deposits in China and Greenland. In addition to working in these countries he has undertaken research in Australia, Canada, Mongolia and the United States. His studies on the Burgess Shale-type faunas, as well as the early evolution of skeletons, has encompassed a wide variety of groups, ranging from

ctenophores Ctenophora (; : ctenophore ) is a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that marine habitats, inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs ...

to the earliest

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. His thinking on the significance of the Burgess Shale has evolved and his current interest in

evolutionary convergence Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

and its wider significance – the topic of his 2007 Gifford Lectures – was in part spurred by

's arguments for the importance of contingency in the history of life. In January 2017, his team announced the discovery of '' Saccorhytus'' and initially described it as an early member of the

deuterostome Deuterostomes (from Greek: ) are bilaterian animals of the superphylum Deuterostomia (), typically characterized by their anus forming before the mouth during embryonic development. Deuterostomia comprises three phyla: Chordata, Echinodermata, ...

s which contain a diverse group of animals including vertebrates, but subsequent analysis reclassified this taxon as a member of the

protostome Protostomia () is the clade of animals once thought to be characterized by the formation of the organism's mouth before its anus during embryonic development. This nature has since been discovered to be extremely variable among Protostomia's memb ...

s, probably within the

ecdysozoa Ecdysozoa () is a group of protostome animals, including Arthropoda (insects, chelicerates (including arachnids), crustaceans, and myriapods), Nematoda, and several smaller phylum (biology), phyla. The grouping of these animal phyla into a single ...

ns.

Burgess Shale

Conway Morris' views on the

Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...

are reported in numerous technical papers and more generally in ''The Crucible of Creation'' (Oxford University Press, 1998). In recent years he has been investigating the phenomenon of evolutionary convergence, the main thesis of which is put forward in ''Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003). He is now involved on a major project to investigate both the scientific ramifications of convergence and also to establish a website
www.mapoflife.org
that aims to provide an easily accessible introduction to the thousands of known examples of convergence. This work is funded by the

John Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a Philanthropy, philanthropic organization founded by John Templeton in 1987. Templeton became wealthy as a Contrarian investing, contrarian investor, and wanted to support progress in relig ...

Evolution, science and religion

Conway Morris is active in the public understanding of science and has broadcast extensively on radio and television. The latter includes the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

Christmas Lectures delivered in 1996. A Christian, he has participated in science and religion debates, including arguments against

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, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

on the one hand and

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

on the other. In 2005 he gave the second Boyle Lecture. He has lectured at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion on "Evolution and fine-tuning in Biology". He gave the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Gifford Lectures for 2007 in a series titled "Darwin's Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation". In these lectures Conway Morris explained why evolution is compatible with belief in the existence of a God. He is a critic of

and of

reductionism Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical positi ...

That satisfactory definitions of life elude us may be one hint that when materialists step forward and declare with a brisk slap of the hands that this is ''it'', we should be deeply skeptical. Whether the "it" be that of
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
' reductionist gene-centred worldpicture, the "universal acid" of
Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...
's meaningless
Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...
, or David Sloan Wilson's faith in group selection (not least to explain the role of human religions), we certainly need to acknowledge each provides insights but as total explanations of what we see around us they are, to put it politely, somewhat incomplete.

and of scientists who are militantly against religion:

the scientist who boomingly – and they always boom – declares that those who believe in the Deity are unavoidably crazy, "cracked" as my dear father would have said, although I should add that I have every reason to believe he was – and now hope is – on the side of the angels.

In March 2009 he was the opening speaker at the Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories conference held at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

in Rome, as well as chairing one of the sessions. The conference was sponsored by the Catholic Church. Conway Morris has contributed articles on evolution and Christian belief to several collections, including ''The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion ''(2010) and '' The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity ''(2012). :

Awards and honours

*The Walcott Medal 1987 *PS Charles Schuchert Award 1989 *GSL Charles Lyell Medal 1998 *Trotter Prize 2007

Bibliography

* ''The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa''. (ed., with Alberto M. Simonetta) Cambridge University Press, 1991. * * "The Cambrian "Explosion" of Metazoans". in '' Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Developmental and Evolutionary Biology'', 2003, * * ''The Deep Structure of Biology''. (ed.) Templeton Foundation Press, 2008. * ''Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning''. (ed., with John D. Barrow, Stephen J. Freeland, Charles L. Harper, Jr.) Cambridge University Press, 2008. * ''Water and Life: The Unique Properties of H₂O''. (ed., with Ruth M. Lynden-Bell,

John D. Barrow John David Barrow (29 November 1952 – 26 September 2020) was an English physical cosmology, cosmologist, Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. He served as Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College from 2008 t ...

, John L. Finney, Charles Harper, Jr.)

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information technol ...

, 2010. * ''The Runes of Evolution: How the Universe became Self-Aware''. Templeton Press, 2015 * ''From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution''. Templeton Press, 2022

References

External links

Simon Conway Morris webpage
at the Earth Sciences department,

Simon Conway Morris resource page
at ISCAST
Simon Conway Morris extended film interview with transcripts for the 'Why Are We Here?' documentary series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway Morris, Simon 1951 births Living people People educated at King's College School, London Alumni of the University of Bristol Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Academics of the Open University English palaeontologists Astrobiologists British evolutionary biologists Fellows of the Royal Society English Christians Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal winners Lyell Medal winners Theistic evolutionists Critics of New Atheism British critics of atheism Presidents of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Earth scientists at the University of Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge