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Niles Eldredge (born August 25, 1943) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 paleontologist
Paleontology

File:Geological time spiral - sharper.pngPaleontology from Greek: pa?a??? "old, ancient", ??, ??t- "being, creature", and ????? "speech, thought" is the study of prehistory life, including organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments ....
, who, along with Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American Paleontology, Evolution, and History of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
, proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium

Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in Evolution which states that most Sexual reproduction species experience little change for most of their geological history, and that when phenotypic evolution does occur, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation ....
 in 1972.

edge began his undergraduate studies in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 at Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
. Before completing his degree he switched to the study of anthropology
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 under Norman D. Newell
Norman D. Newell

Norman D. Newell was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History and a professor at Columbia University.Newell was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society....
. 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

Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the Grade with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, though some institutions also use the English translation of these phrases rather than the Latin originals....
 from Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College of Columbia University

Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the New York City....
 in 1965, and enrolled in the university's doctoral program while continuing his research at the museum.






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Niles Eldredge (born August 25, 1943) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 paleontologist
Paleontology

File:Geological time spiral - sharper.pngPaleontology from Greek: pa?a??? "old, ancient", ??, ??t- "being, creature", and ????? "speech, thought" is the study of prehistory life, including organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments ....
, who, along with Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American Paleontology, Evolution, and History of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
, proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium

Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in Evolution which states that most Sexual reproduction species experience little change for most of their geological history, and that when phenotypic evolution does occur, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation ....
 in 1972.

Education

Eldredge began his undergraduate studies in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 at Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
. Before completing his degree he switched to the study of anthropology
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 under Norman D. Newell
Norman D. Newell

Norman D. Newell was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History and a professor at Columbia University.Newell was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society....
. 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

Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the Grade with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, though some institutions also use the English translation of these phrases rather than the Latin originals....
 from Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College of Columbia University

Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus of Morningside Heights in the Borough of Manhattan in the New York City....
 in 1965, and enrolled in the university's doctoral program while continuing his research at the museum. He completed his PhD in 1969.

Paleontology

In 1969, Eldredge became Curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world....
, a position which he still holds. He is also Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York
City University of New York

Not to be confused with New York University formerly known as the University of the City of New York.For similar uses see University of New York...
. His specialty is the evolution of mid-Paleozoic Phacopida
Phacopida

Phacopida is an Order of trilobite that lived from the Ordovician to the Devonian. It is made up of a morphologically diverse group of related suborders....
 trilobites: a group of extinct arthropod
Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
s that lived between 543 and 245 million years ago.

Evolutionary theory

Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American Paleontology, Evolution, and History of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
 proposed punctuated equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium

Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in Evolution which states that most Sexual reproduction species experience little change for most of their geological history, and that when phenotypic evolution does occur, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation ....
 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

In biology, evolution is change in the heritability trait of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes are caused by a combination of three main processes: variation, reproduction, and selection....
ary and ecological
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 systems. Around this time, he became focused on the rapid destruction of many of the world's habitats and species. 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 a critic of the gene-centric view of evolution
Gene-centered view of evolution

The gene-centered view of evolution, gene selection theory or selfish gene theory holds that natural selection acts through differential survival of competing genes, increasing the frequency of those alleles whose Phenotype effects successfully promote their own propagation....
 and the notion that evolutionary theory can be held accountable to patterns of historical data. His most recent venture is the development of an alternative account to the gene-based notions of evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary psychology attempts to explain Mind and psychology Trait theorys?such as memory, perception, or language?as adaptations, that is, as the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection....
 to explain why human beings behave as they do.

He has published more than 160 scientific articles, books, and reviews, including Reinventing Darwin, an examination of current controversies in evolutionary biology
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
, and Dominion, a consideration of the ecological and evolutionary past, present, and future of Homo sapiens
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
.

Personal life

Eldredge enjoys playing jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
 and is an avid collector of 19th century cornet
Cornet

Not to be confused with coronetThe cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical Bore , compact shape, and mellower tone quality....
s. He shares his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood, New Jersey

Ridgewood is a Village in Bergen County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936....
 with his wife and more than 500 cornets. He also has two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.

Eldredge possesses a chart of the historical development of cornet
Cornet

Not to be confused with coronetThe cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical Bore , compact shape, and mellower tone quality....
s (the musical instruments), which he uses as a comparison with that of the development of trilobite
Trilobite

Trilobites are extinction marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. They appeared in the Early Cambrian period and flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Late Devonian extinction, all trilobite orders, with the sole exception of Proetida, died out....
s. The differences between them are meant to highlight the failures of intelligent design
Intelligent design

Intelligent design is the term used for the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of life are best explained by an intelligent causality, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a modern form of the traditional teleological argument for the existence of God that avoids specifying the nature or identity of th...
 by comparing a system that is definitely designed, with a system that, according to scientific consensus, is not.

Bibliography

  • Cracraft, J. and N. Eldredge (eds.) 1979. Phylogenetic Analysis and Palaeontology. Columbia University Press, New York
  • Eldredge, N. and 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
  • Eldredge, N. 1982. The Monkey Business: A Scientist Looks at Creationism. Pocket Books, New York. 157 p. Japanese edition, 1992
  • Eldredge, N. and 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
  • Eldredge, N. and S. M. Stanley (eds.). 1984. Living Fossils. Springer Verlag, New York.
  • Eldredge, N. 1985. Time Frames. Simon and Schuster, New York. 240 pp. Great Britain: Heilman; Princeton University reprint edition. Italian edition, 1991, hopefulmonster editore
  • Eldredge, N. 1985. Unfinished Synthesis: Biological Hierarchies and Modern Evolutionary Thought. Oxford University Press, New York
  • Eldredge, N. 1987. Life Pulse: Episodes in the History of Life. Facts on File, New York. Pelican edition (Great Britain)
  • Eldredge, N. (ed.). 1987. Natural History Reader on Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York
  • Eldredge, N. 1989. Macroevolutionary Dynamics: Species, Niches and Adaptive Peaks. McGraw Hill, New York. Japanese edition: McGraw Hill Publishing Co., Japan, Ltd.
  • Eldredge, N., D. Eldredge and G. Eldredge. 1989. The Fossil Factory. Addison Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Massachusetts
  • Eldredge, N. 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 and Kupfer. German Edition: Spektrum; U.S. paperback edition: Princeton University Press
  • Eldredge, N. 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
  • Eldredge, N. (ed.). 1992. Systematics, Ecology and the Biodiversity Crisis. Columbia University Press, New York
  • Eldredge, N. and M. Grene. 1992. Interactions: The Biological Context of Social Systems. Columbia University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Eldredge, N. 1995. Reinventing Darwin: The Great Debate at the High Table of Evolutionary Theory. John Wiley and Sons, New York; English edition: Orion; Italian edition: Einaudi Editore
  • Eldredge, N. 1995. Dominion. Henry Holt and Co; paperback edition, University of California Press, 1997
  • Eldredge, N. 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: Guilo Einaudi Editore
  • Eldredge, N. 1999. The Pattern of Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York
  • Eldredge, N. 2000. The Triumph of Evolution...And the Failure of Creationism. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York
  • Eldredge, N. (ed.). 2002. Life on Earth: An Encyclopaedia of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California
  • Eldredge, N. 2004. Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene. W.W. Norton, New York
  • Eldredge, N. 2005. Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life. W.W. Norton, New York


External links