Eugenie C. Scott

Eugenie Scott

Eugenie Carol Scott (born October 24, 1945 in Wisconsin ) is an American human biologist and director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) from 1987 to 2014 . She is also a prominent critic of young earth creationism and intelligent design .

Academic career

Eugenie Scott grew up in Wisconsin. She first became interested in biology when she read her sister's textbook. She earned a bachelor's and master's degree in science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , with a Ph.D. the University of Missouri followed. She joined the University of Kentucky as a human biologist in 1974 and soon after began a debate with her mentor James A. Gavan and young earth creationist Duane Gish , who piqued her interest in the controversy of how the earth was formed. After him she named the debating technique Gish-Gallop , half-truths and false statements uttered in quick succession, which force the other person to constantly have to explain. She has also taught at the University of Colorado and California State University at Hayward . Her research focused on medical anthropology and skeletal biology.

In 1980, Scott protested to prevent creationism from being taught in public schools in Lexington , Kentucky . From this small success in Kentucky and other states, the National Center for Science Education emerged in 1981. In 1987 she was appointed principal, the year the teaching of creationism in American public schools was approved by the Supreme Court in Edward V. Aguillard was declared illegal.

Scott and her husband, Thomas C. Sager, a lawyer , have a daughter and live in Berkeley , California .

Academic recognition

In 1993 the University of Missouri honored Scott as an Excellent Student. In 1994 she was appointed to the California Academy of Sciences . She served as President of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists from 2000 to 2002, when she was selected as a partner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was offered a chair. She is also a member of Sigma Xi .

Scott has received many awards from academic organizations. In 1999 she received the Bruce Alberts Award from the American Society for Cell Biology , in 2001 the award for public services from the Geological Society of America , the same award then in 2002 from the National Science Board for “her promotion of public understanding of the importance of science, the scientific method, and science education and the role of evolution in science education "(in German, for example:" for your doctorate on the public understanding of science, the scientific method, scientific education and the role of evolution in this. ") In the same year the American Institute of Biological Sciences recognized her for the first Outstanding Service Award, as well as the Margaret Nicholson Distinguished Service Award from the California Science Teachers Association . The National Association of Biology Teachers made her honorary membership in 2005. In 2006 she received the Anthropology in the Media Award from the American Anthropological Association for "the successful communication of anthropology to the general public through the media" (in German: "for her successful communication with the public about anthropology through the media). ". In 2007, Scott and Kenneth R. Miller jointly received the Outstanding Educator's Award from the Exploratorium .

She also received an honorary doctorate from McGill University in 2003 , Ohio State University in 2005 , Mount Holyoke College in 2006, and her alma mater from the University of Wisconsin.

In 2007 she received an honorary doctorate from Rutgers University and in 2008 from the University of New Mexico .

In 2009 she became the first recipient of the Stephen Jay Gould Prize , which was awarded to her by the Society for the Study of Evolution for “devoting her life to advancing public understanding of evolution” (for example: “for giving her life to the progress of the public Understanding of evolution consecrated ”). In 2010 she received the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences .

On August 21, 2010, Eugenie Scott received an award from the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) for her work in the field of skeptics.

On October 9, 2010, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry appointed Scott and others to be a part of their council, and she began posting skeptical magazine articles on their website.

James Underdown Director of the Center for Inquiry West and Independent Investigations Group (IIG) West presents the IIG award to Scott on August 21, 2010

Worldview

Scott was initially a Christian Science devotee because of her mother and grandmother , but later went to a free church under her sister's influence. She describes her background as that of Liberal Theology . Currently, Scott is a secular humanist and describes herself as a nontheist. 2003, wrote the San Francisco Chronicle : ". Scott Describes herself as atheist but does not discount the importance of spirituality" (in German: "Scott is an atheist without the importance of spirituality called dismiss.") In 2003, she signed the third Humanist Manifesto ( Humanism and Its Aspirations ). She is also a partner of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. In 2003 she received the “Defense of Science Award” from the Center for Inquiry for “her tireless leadership in defending scientific evolution and educational freedom” (in German: “for her tireless leadership in the defense of scientific evolution and freedom of education”).

In 1998 Scott received the Isaac Asimov Award in Science from the American Humanist Association . In her speech, she explained how the statement that evolution is "unsupervised" and "impersonal" was attacked by creationists like Phillip E. Johnson and the NABT did not change this due to pressure from the creationists. Scott agreed with theologian Huston Smith and the philosopher Alvin Plantinga that "unsupervised" and "impersonal" should be removed from the statement.

NCSE itself has a neutral religious position and the beliefs and non-beliefs of its members vary widely. Even so, both Scott and NCSE have been criticized by creationists for being "atheist".

Authorship

Scott is widely considered to be the leading expert on creationism and intelligent design and one of her greatest opponents. In 2004 her book Evolution vs. Creatonism: An Introduction published by Greenwood Press and paperback by University of California Press in 2005 . It includes a foreword by Niles Eldredge .

In 2006 she also edited the anthology Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools together with Glenn Branch .

In the same year, she co-wrote a short article on science with Jon D. Miller and Shinji Okamoto, entitled Public Acceptance of Evolution . It is an analysis of a survey of the acceptance of evolution in the United States over the past 20 years and compares this data with other countries. In this study, the US had the second lowest level of acceptance, which was only undercut by Turkey. Nonetheless, the authors saw the increasing percentage of Americans who are not sure about evolution as positive and therefore considered them to be "achievable".

She also wrote a treatise with Glenn Branch and Nick Matzke on "The Morphology of Steve" (English original title: "The Morphology of Steve") in the Annals of Improbable Research , which arose from the NCSE's "Steve" project.

Appear in the media

David Berlinski , a colleague at the Discovery Institute , describes Scott as a defendant, "who is oft sent out to defend Darwin" (in German: "which is often sent to Darwin to defend"). Scott himself prefers to see himself as "Darwin's Golden Retriever ". Your work "requires coping with science illiteracy in the American public" (in German: your work "requires coping with scientific illiteracy in American society").

Scott also has a profile in Scientific American , The Scientist , the San Francisco Chronicle, and Stanford Medical Magazine . She has been interviewed for Science & Theology News , for CSICOP , for Church & State, and Point of Inquiry . Their comments were published by Science & Theology News and the Metanexus Institute .

She also appeared as a board spokeswoman in the documentary series "Evolution" by Public Broadcasting Service and WGBH-TV .

Scott has also participated in numerous interviews on MSNBC and Fox News Channel , debating with creationists and supporters of intelligent design. They discussed on 29 November 2004 with the astrophysicists about Answers in Genesis on CNN . On May 6, 2005, she debated the Discovery Institute with Stephen C. Meyer in The Big Story with John Gibson . The latter concerned the Kansas evolution hearings .

In 2004, Scott's National Center for Science Education was featured on Penn & Teller's television show Bullshit! represented, in an episode titled Creationism . In it, Scott published philosophical views on creationism and the intelligent design movement. "It would be unfair to tell students that there is a serious dispute going on among scientists whether evolution took place" (in German: "It would be unfair to tell students that there is a serious discussion among scientists whether the Evolution has taken place or not ”) because there is no such debate. She also noted: “a lot of the time the creationists ... they'll search through scientific journals and try to pull out something they think demonstrates evolution doesn't work and there is a kind of interesting rationale behind it. Their theology is such that if one thing is wrong with the Bible you have to throw it all out so that's why Genesis has to be interpreted literally. They look at science the same way. If one little piece of the evolutionary puzzle doesn't fit the whole thing has to go. That's not the way science is done. "(In German:" Most of the time the creationists search science magazines and try to find something that they think demonstrates that evolution does not work and that there is some kind of interesting basic rational principle behind it. Their theology states that if one thing does not match the Bible, everything must be discarded and therefore Genesis has to be interpreted literally. They look at science the same way. If a little piece of the evolutionary puzzle does not fit, it has to be discarded entirely. So science doesn't work. ")

Scott also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Americans for Religious Liberty . In 1999 she was awarded the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award "for tirelessly defending the separation of church and state by ensuring that religious neutrality is maintained in the science curriculum of America's public schools" (in German: "for tirelessly defending the separation of Church and State and ensuring that religious neutrality in academic subjects is maintained in American public schools ”). Furthermore, in 2006 she was selected as one of three jurors to present these awards. Scott was interviewed for the documentary Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial .

Political opinions

After the election victory of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election, 2016 Scott called the future government Trump as probably the most hostile towards science and scientific education in generations. She stressed Ben Carson's and Mike Pence 's denial of scientific facts.

Books

• Eugenie C. Scott: Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction . University of California Press, Berkley & Los Angeles, California 2004, ISBN 0-313-32122-1
• Eugenie C. Scott & Glenn Branch: Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools . Beacon Press, Boston 2006, ISBN 0-8070-3278-6

Web links

• Eugenie Scott: Déjà vu all over again - Denialism of Climate Change and of Evolution (Video, 1:01 h). Arnold Arboretum , Harvard University , February 10, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ^ What inspired me to take up science? , Eugenie Scott
2. ^ My Favorite Pseudoscience , Eugenie Scott, from Skeptical Odysseys: Personal Accounts by the World's Leading Paranormal Inquirers . Paul Kurtz , ed. Amherst (NY): Prometheus Books, 2001, pp. 245-56.
3. ^ Eugenie C. Scott: Confronting Creationism . In: Reports of the National Center for Science Education . tape 24 , no. 6 , November 2004, pp. 23 .
4. ^ Special Event Programs and Records, Archives of the University of Missouri . February 8, 2005. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
5. ^ Mary Lou Zoback: GSA Announces Public Service Medals for Scott and Dalrymple . National Center for Science Education . December 3, 2001. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
6. ^ Scott receives public service award from the National Science Board . NCSE. May 9, 2002. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
7. ^ National Science Board - Honorary Awards . National Science Foundation. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
8. ↑ AIBA News April 2002 . American Institute of Biological Sciences. April 2002. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 23, 2007. 
9. ^ Scott Receives Teacher Association Award . NCSE. October 28, 2002. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
10. ^ Eugenie C. Scott to receive the NABT award . NCSE. October 5, 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
11. ^ Scott honored with Anthropology in the Media Award . NCSE. November 1, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
12. ^ Exploratorium 2007 Awards Dinner . Exploratory. 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 23, 2007. 
13. ^ Scott to Receive Honorary Degree . NCSE. May 30, 2003. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
14. ^ Spring 2003 Convocation Honorary Doctorates . McGill University . May 22, 2003. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
15. ^ Scott to be honored by OSU . NCSE. May 4, 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
16. ^ Scientific literacy advocate will give commencement address . Ohio State University . March 2, 2005. Archived from the original on September 3, 2006. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 23, 2007. 
17. ^ Ohio State honors four at winter 2005 commencement . OSU. March 17, 2005. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
18. ^ NCSE's Scott to be honored by Mount Holyoke . NCSE. April 28, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
19. ^ Honorary Degree Citation, Eugenie Scott . Mount Holyoke College . May 28, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
20. ^ Eugenie C. Scott: Honorary Degree Address . May 28, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
21. ↑ Scott honored by UWM . NCSE. December 19, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
22. ↑ UWM alumna Dr. Eugenie Scott to receive honorary degree from UWM . University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee . December 8, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
23. ^ NCSE's Scott to be honored by Rutgers . NCSE. May 8, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
24. ^ UNM Awards Genie Scott with Honorary Doctorate of Science . Panda's Thumb. March 13, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
25. ↑ Awards ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Society for the Study of Evolution 
26. ^ Public Welfare Award . National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
27. ↑ http://www.iigwest.com/iigawards/index.html
28. ^ Kendrick Frazier, Barry Karr: CSI (COP) Renews and Expands Executive Council, Plans for Future Activities . In: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (Ed.): Skeptical Inquirer . 35, No. 1, January / February 2011, p. 5.
29. ↑ ^{a b} A Conversation with Eugenie Scott ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Science and Theology News  
30. ↑ Monica Lam: PROFILE / EUGENIE SCOTT / Berkeley scientist leads fight to stop teaching of creationism . In: The San Francisco Chronicle , November 13, 2006. 
31. ↑ List of original signatories to Humanism and its Aspirations ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
32. ↑ List of fellows of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ( Memento of the original dated June 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
33. ^ Scott Receives "Defense of Science" Award
34. ↑ ^{a b} Scott, genius. Science and Religion, Methodology and Humanism [1] American Humanist Association , San Diego, CA. May 1998. Accessed = 2009-05-21
35. ↑ About NCSE
36. ↑ How Religiously Neutral are the Anti-Creationist Organizations? ask Don Batten and Jonathan Sarfati of Answers in Genesis
37. ^ "Public Acceptance of Evolution" in Science , NCSE, August 15, 2006
38. ↑ SCIENCE COMMUNICATION: Public Acceptance of Evolution Miller et al. Science 11 August 2006: 765-766 doi : 10.1126 / science.1126746
39. ↑ Well, at least we beat Turkey ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Nick Matzke , The Panda's Thumb , August 10, 2006  
40. ^ Eugenie C. Scott, Glenn Branch and Nick Matzke: The Morphology of Steve . (PDF) In: Annals of Improbable Research . 10, No. 4, 2004, pp. 24-29. doi : 10.3142 / 107951404781540554 .
41. ↑ To Interview with David Berlinski: Part One ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Intelligent Design the Future , March 7, 2006  
42. ^ Scientific American 10: Guiding Science for Humanity. Scientific American. June 2009, Retrieved May 20, 2009.
43. ^ Steve Mirsky : Teach the Science: Wherever evolution education is under attack by creationist thinking, Eugenie Scott will be there to defend science — with rationality and resolve , Scientific American , February 1, 2006.
44. ↑ [ http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2002/may/watanabe_p60_020527.html ( Memento from June 6, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Profile: Eugenie C. Scott: 'Giving ammo to the choir' The Scientist 16 [ 11]: 60, May. 27, 2002]
45. ↑ PROFILES: EUGENIE SCOTT: Berkeley scientist leads fight to stop teaching of creationism
46. ↑ Ain't it the truth? Two plus two equals four - spread the word , Joël Stein , Stanford Medicine Magazine
47. ↑ An interview with Dr. Eugenie Scott ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , By Bill Busher, CSICOP 
48. ↑ Not In Our Classrooms! Leading Science Educator Explains Why 'Intelligent Design' Is Wrong For Our Schools ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Church & State , Americans United 
49. ↑ Eugenie Scott - Evolution vs. Religious Belief? ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Point of Inquiry 
50. ↑ Eugenie Scott - The Dover Trial: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
51. ↑ Still waiting for ID proponents to say more than 'Evolution is wrong' ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
52. ↑ The Big Tent and the Camel's Nose ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Eugenie Scott, Metanexus Institute .  
53. ^ Evolution Project Overview , PBS .
54. ^ NCSE's Scott on Fox, CNN , NCSE
55. ↑ Jason Lisle vs. Eugenie Scott on CNN! ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Answers in Genesis, December 1, 2004  
56. ^ Kansas Debates Evolution: Stephen C. Meyer, Eugenie Scott , May 6, 2005 from the Discovery Institute
57. ↑ Evolution Vs. God in the Classroom - The Big Story w / Gibson and Nauert , Fox News Channel . May 6, 2005. Retrieved February 17, 2010. 
58. ↑ Creationism , Bullshit! . Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2008. 
59. ↑ 1999 winners, Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards
60. ^ The Scientific American