PBS: Evolution
Encyclopedia
Evolution is a 2001 documentary
series
by the American
broadcaster Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) and WGBH
on evolutionary biology.
The spokespeople for the series were Jane Goodall
(overall spokesperson), Kenneth R. Miller
and Stephen Jay Gould
(science spokespeople), Eugenie C. Scott (education spokesperson), Arthur Peacocke
and Arnold Thomas (religious spokespeople). The series was narrated by the Irish actor Liam Neeson
.
The series was accompanied by a book by the popular science writer Carl Zimmer
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. An extensive website provides teaching resources for each episode's material, including "The Mating Game", further looks at Charles Darwin
, and an interactive history of speciation
in the invented "pollencreeper" birds.
The episode What about God? features discussion of the issues of evolution
and creationism
at Wheaton College (Illinois)
, an Evangelical
Protestant college that teaches evolution
but has in the past restricted professors from taking a stance on the literal versus the allegorical interpretations of Adam and Eve in the Genesis account of creation.
, writing in the New York Times, said that "[a] powerful sense of drama, discovery and intellectual enthusiasm runs through this rich eight-hour series ... The series covers an enormous amount of ground but doesn’t leave you feeling swamped."
Being made and broadcast in the country where creation-evolution controversy
is strongest, the last episode What About God? focused on religion
, and "through personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible
". Phina Borgeson, Faith Network Director of the National Center for Science Education
, provided a Congregational Study Guide for Evolution. Conversely, the Discovery Institute
's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture produced a website to refute the documentary and started a petition it called A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
to show that there were "scientists that dispute the claims".
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
broadcaster Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) and WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
on evolutionary biology.
The spokespeople for the series were Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall
Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National...
(overall spokesperson), Kenneth R. Miller
Kenneth R. Miller
Kenneth Raymond Miller is a biology professor at Brown University. Miller, who is Roman Catholic, is particularly known for his opposition to creationism, including the intelligent design movement...
and Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
(science spokespeople), Eugenie C. Scott (education spokesperson), Arthur Peacocke
Arthur Peacocke
The Reverend Canon Arthur Robert Peacocke MBE was a British theologian and biochemist.-Biography:Arthur Robert Peacocke was born at Watford in on 29 November 1924...
and Arnold Thomas (religious spokespeople). The series was narrated by the Irish actor Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
.
The series was accompanied by a book by the popular science writer Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer and blogger, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover...
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. An extensive website provides teaching resources for each episode's material, including "The Mating Game", further looks at Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, and an interactive history of speciation
Speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook seems to have been the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or 'cladogenesis,' as opposed to 'anagenesis' or 'phyletic evolution' occurring within lineages...
in the invented "pollencreeper" birds.
The episode What about God? features discussion of the issues of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
at Wheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
, an Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestant college that teaches evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
but has in the past restricted professors from taking a stance on the literal versus the allegorical interpretations of Adam and Eve in the Genesis account of creation.
Reaction
TV critic Julie SalamonJulie Salamon
Julie Salamon , is an American journalist, critic and author.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Seaman, a rural village located in Adams County, Ohio, where her father was the town doctor. After graduating from Tufts University, she moved to New York City, where she received her law...
, writing in the New York Times, said that "[a] powerful sense of drama, discovery and intellectual enthusiasm runs through this rich eight-hour series ... The series covers an enormous amount of ground but doesn’t leave you feeling swamped."
Being made and broadcast in the country where creation-evolution controversy
Creation-evolution controversy
The creation–evolution controversy is a recurring cultural, political, and theological dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe....
is strongest, the last episode What About God? focused on religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, and "through personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible
Theistic evolution
Theistic evolution or evolutionary creation is a concept that asserts that classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution...
". Phina Borgeson, Faith Network Director of the National Center for Science Education
National Center for Science Education
The National Center for Science Education is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is the United States' leading anti-creationist organization, and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology and opposes...
, provided a Congregational Study Guide for Evolution. Conversely, the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture produced a website to refute the documentary and started a petition it called A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
to show that there were "scientists that dispute the claims".
Episodes
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea (two hours)
- Great Transformations (one hour)
- Extinction! (one hour)
- The Evolutionary Arms Race (one hour)
- Why Sex? (one hour)
- The Mind's Big Bang (one hour)
- What About God? (one hour)
Appearances
- Susan BlackmoreSusan BlackmoreSusan Jane Blackmore is an English freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine.-Career:...
- Sean B. CarrollSean B. CarrollSean B. Carroll is a Professor of Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system...
- Jenny ClackJennifer A. ClackJennifer Alice Clack, FRS, is an English paleontologist, an expert in the field of evolutionary biology. She studies the "fish to tetrapod" transition— the origin, evolutionary development and radiation of early tetrapods and their relatives among the lobe-finned fishes...
- Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
- Daniel DennettDaniel DennettDaniel Clement Dennett is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Co-director of...
- Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
- William McGinnisWilliam McGinnisWilliam "Bill" McGinnis, Ph.D. is a molecular biologist and professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego . At UCSD he has also served as the Chairman of the Department of Biology from July 1998 - June 1999, as Associate Dean of the Division of Natural Sciences from July 1, 1999...
- James MooreJames Moore (biographer)James Richard Moore, historian of science at the Open University and the University of Cambridge and visiting scholar at Harvard University, is noted as the author of several biographies of Charles Darwin...
- Simon Conway MorrisSimon Conway MorrisSimon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould...
- Walter Gehring
- Steve Pinker
- Geoffrey MillerGeoffrey Miller (evolutionary psychologist)Geoffrey F. Miller , Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, is an American evolutionary psychologist.Miller is a 1987 graduate of Columbia University, where he earned a B.A. in biology and psychology. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from Stanford University...
- Neil ShubinNeil ShubinNeil Shubin is an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Professor on the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of...
- E. O. WilsonE. O. WilsonEdward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher , theorist , naturalist and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants....
- Richard WranghamRichard WranghamRichard W. Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and his research group is now part of the newly established Department of Human Evolutionary Biology....
External links
- Resources for PBS Evolution from the National Center for Science EducationNational Center for Science EducationThe National Center for Science Education is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is the United States' leading anti-creationist organization, and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology and opposes...