Statistics and Ethics

Introduction

Stephen Jay Gould (born Stephen Jay Gould; September 10, 1941, New York - May 20, 2002, New York) - a famous American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science. During most of his career, Gould spent teaching at Harvard University and worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In July 1982, Gould was diagnosed with "Peritoneal Mesothelioma", a deadly form of cancer that affects the epithelium lining the abdominal cavity. After a difficult course of treatment, which lasted about two years, Gould published an article in the journal “Discover”, under the title The Median Isn't the Message, in which he describes his reaction to the news that patients, patients with mesothelioma, live on average no more than eight months after diagnosis. After that, he explains that he really is behind that number, and describes the relief he experienced when he realized that the average values are nothing more than convenient simplifications and do not cover all possible variations. Median - a point in the middle of the timeline and it means that 50% of patients do not survive and eight months, but others live longer and possibly much longer (Dunn 2011) all he has left is to figure out where on this scale is its own case. Given that the diagnosis was based on Gould fairly early disease, that he was young, optimistic and had access to the latest tools, he came to the conclusion that he has a good chance of being among the "oldest old". After the experimental treatment that included radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, Gould made a full recovery, and his note was a source of hope for many cancer patients (Singer, 110).

About the author

Stephen Jay Gould was born in September 1941 in New York; in 1963, he graduated in geology from Antioch College, his doctorate at Columbia University in 1967. In the same year obtained the post of Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology Museum at Harvard, and was promoted to professor of geology in 1971 and Conservative in 1973. In 1982, he was appointed professor of zoology "Alexander Agassiz" Among the many honors awarded to him throughout his life has more than 40 honorary titles of the most distinguished institutions in the world, was named "Scientist of the Year" in 1981 by Discover magazine, Medal of Excellence at Columbia University in 1983, Silver Medal Zoological Society of London in 1984, gold medal for his service to the Linnean Society Zoology in London in 1992, recognition of Societies of Teachers of Geology and Biology of the United States, and the award "Distinguished Scientist" at the University of California, Center for the study of evolution and the origins of life, in 1997 (Dunn).

His research in invertebrate paleontology focused particularly on growth and morphology of land snails, which won awards including the Prize "Schuchert" in 1975 for his excellent paleontological research, when he was 40. Throughout his life, he published many books and hundreds of essays on a variety of topics from evolution, ...