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Jerry Coyne at Duke University

Jerry Allen Coyne (born 1949) is an American professor of biology, known for his commentary on the intelligent design debate. 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 Drosophila.^[1]

Academic work

Coyne was valedictorian of his class (1971) at the College of William & Mary and received a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University, an NIH postdoc in genetics at UC Davis, and a 1989 Guggenheim fellowship. At Harvard, Coyne studied under Richard Lewontin, who sponsored his doctoral degree. He 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^[2] including 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."^[3]

Scientific Papers

Coyne's peer-reviewed scientific publications include three papers in Nature and two in Science^[4]:

• Llopart, A., S. Elwyn and J.A. Coyne. 2002. Pigmentation and mate choice in Drosophila melanogaster. Nature 419: 360.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Coyne, J. A. 1992. The genetics of speciation. Nature 355:511-515.

Books

• Coyne, Jerry A.; H. Allen Orr (2004-06-30). Speciation. Sinauer Associates Inc.,U.S.. ISBN 0878930892.  
• Coyne, Jerry A. (2009-01-22). Why Evolution is True. OUP Oxford. ISBN 0199230846.  

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 New Republic
• The Great Mutator", The New Republic (Review of Michael Behe's The Edge of Evolution)
• "Speciation" (co-author H. A. Orr)
• Answers in Science (Review of Jonathan Wells' Icons of Evolution)
• Does the empirical nature of science contradict the revelatory nature of faith? (Article criticising theistic evolution at Edge.org)
• "A Letter to Charles Darwin" OUP Blog (celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth)

References

External links

• Faculty website at the University of Chicago
• Why Evolution is True
• "Speciation" list from Sinauer