Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was a New York-born American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Born Jewish, he did not formally practice any organized religion, and though he was raised in a socialist home he did not become an active socialist himself. He spoke out against what he saw as cultural oppression in all its forms, especially alleged pseudoscience in the service of racism.

Personal life

Gould was married twice and had two children.

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Gould was diagnosed with an abdominal mesothelioma in July 1982. He later published a column in Natural History titled "The Median Isn't the Message", in which he discusses his discovery that mesothelioma patients had a median lifespan of eight months after diagnosis. He then describes the research he uncovered behind this number, and his relief upon the realization that statistics are not prophecy.

Related Topics:
Abdominal - Mesothelioma - Median - Statistics

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After his diagnosis and receiving an experimental treatment, Gould continued to live for nearly twenty years, until his death from another unrelated type of cancer; a metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung. The column itself (linked below) has been a source of comfort for many cancer patients.

Related Topics:
Adenocarcinoma - Lung

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Gould once voiced a cartoon version of himself on an episode of the animated television program, The Simpsons.

Related Topics:
Television - The Simpsons

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Members of Gould's family are suing two radiologists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and another doctor at Brigham and Women?s Hospital over what they claim was a botched reading of a radiograph that might have diagnosed Gould's fatal lung cancer early enough in the disease's progression for it to be successfully treated.

Related Topics:
Radiologist - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute - Brigham and Women?s Hospital - Radiograph

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