Jerry Coyne

Jerry Coyne
Jerry Coyne at the University of Chicago, August 2006, with the laboratory cat[1] Dusty.
Born	(1949-12-30)December 30, 1949
Residence	Chicago
Nationality	American
Fields	Ecology and Evolution
Institutions	University of Chicago
Alma mater	College of William & Mary, Harvard University (Ph.D)

Jerry Allen Coyne (born December 30, 1949^[2]) is an American professor of biology, known for his commentary on the intelligent design debate. A prolific scientist, he has published dozens of papers, elucidating on the theory of evolution. He is currently a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Ecology and Evolution. His concentration is speciation and ecological and evolutionary genetics, particularly as they involve the fruit fly, Drosophila.^[3] He is the author of the standard text Speciation and the bestselling science popularization Why Evolution is True and maintains a blog by the same name.

Academic work

Coyne graduated with a B.S. at the College of William & Mary in 1971. He then earned a Ph.D. in biology at Harvard University, studying under Richard Lewontin, and went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Davis. In 1989, he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship.

Coyne has served as Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution (1996) and as Associate Editor of Evolution (1985–1988; 1994–2000) and The American Naturalist (1990–1993). He currently teaches evolutionary biology, speciation, genetic analysis, social issues and scientific knowledge, and scientific speaking and writing.

His work is widely published, not only in scientific journals, but also in such mainstream venues as The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and The New Republic. His research interests include population and evolutionary genetics, speciation, ecological and quantitative genetics, chromosome evolution, and sperm competition.

Coyne is a critic of creationism^[4] including theistic evolution^[5][6] and intelligent design, which he calls "the latest pseudoscientific incarnation of religious creationism, cleverly crafted by a new group of enthusiasts to circumvent recent legal restrictions."^[7]

The Ecuadoran frog Atelopus coynei is named after Coyne. He collected the holotype in a swamp on a frogging trip to western Ecuador as a student in the late 1970s.^[8]

Atheism

Coyne is an atheist. He claims that religion and science are incompatible, that only rational evaluation of evidence is capable of reliably discovering the world and the way it works, and that scientists who hold religious views are only reflective of the idea "that people can hold two conflicting notions in their heads at the same time". He suggests that "the incompatibility of science and faith" is demonstrated by the fact that, according to Elaine Howard Ecklund, 64% of American scientists are atheists or agnostics.^[9]

As well as evolution-related topics, his website, Why Evolution Is True, discusses atheism, the incompatibility of science and religion, science, and other topics.

Noteworthy scientific papers

Some of Coyne's peer-reviewed scientific publications include three papers in Nature and three in Science:^[10]

• Matute, D.R., I.A. Butler, D.A. Turossini, and J.A. Coyne. 2010. A test of the snowball theory for the rate of evolution of hybrid incompatibilities. Science 329 1518-1521. doi:10.1126/science.1193440
• Llopart, A., S. Elwyn and J.A. Coyne. 2002. Pigmentation and mate choice in Drosophila melanogaster. Nature 419: 360. doi:10.1038/419360a
• Greenberg, A.J., J.R. Moran, J.A. Coyne and C-I. Wu. 2003. Ecological adaptation during incipient speciation revealed by precise gene replacement. Science 302: 1754-1757. doi:10.1126/science.1090432
• Coyne, J. A., A. P. Crittenden, and K. Mah. 1994. Genetics of a pheromonal difference contributing to reproductive isolation in Drosophila. Science 265:1461-1464. doi:10.1126/science.8073292
• Price, C.S.C., K. A. Dyer, and J. A. Coyne. 1999. Sperm competition between Drosophila males involves both displacement and incapacitation. Nature 400:449-452 doi:10.1038/22755
• Coyne, J. A. 1992. Genetics and speciation. Nature 355:511-515. doi:10.1038/355511a0

Books

• Coyne, Jerry A.; H. Allen Orr (2004-06-30). Speciation. Sinauer Associates Inc., Sunderland, Mass.. ISBN 0-87893-089-2. 
• Coyne, Jerry A. (2009-01-22). Why Evolution is True. Viking, New York (USA); Oxford University Press, Oxford (UK). ISBN 0-19-923084-6. OCLC 233549529. 

Online articles

• "The faith that dares not speak its name: The Case Against Intelligent Design.", The New Republic
• "Ann Coulter and Charles Darwin. Coultergeist.", The New Republic
• "Seeing and Believing: The never-ending attempt to reconcile science and religion, and why it is doomed to fail.", The New Republic
• The Great Mutator", The New Republic (Review of Michael Behe's The Edge of Evolution)
• "Speciation" (co-author H. A. Orr)
• Coyne, Jerry A. (2001). "Creationism by Stealth". Nature 410 (6830): 745–746. doi:10.1038/35071144. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/Coyne-IconsReview.htm. 
• "A Letter to Charles Darwin" OUP Blog (celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth)

References

External links

• Why Evolution is True - Official Blog
• Faculty website at the University of Chicago
• 'Why Evolution Is True' by Jerry Coyne - one hour video at ExChristian.net
• "Speciation" list from Sinauer