Stephen C. Stearns (born December 12, 1946) is an American biologist, and the Edward P. Bass Professor of

Ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and Evolutionary Biology Emeritus at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He is known for his work in

life history theory Life history theory (LHT) is an analytical frameworkVitzthum, V. (2008). Evolutionary models of women's reproductive functioning. ''Annual Review of Anthropology'', ''37'', 53-73 designed to study the diversity of life history strategies used by d ...

and

evolutionary medicine Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine is the application of modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease. Modern biomedical research and practice have focused on the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying hea ...

Early life and education

Stearns was born in Kapaau, Hawaii and raised in Hawi, Hawaii. After completing his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at

in 1967, he received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1971. He earned a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1975 and was awarded a Miller Fellowship at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

the same year.

Career

From 1978 to 1983, Stearns served as an

Assistant Professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

in the Department of Biology at

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

. He then became a Professor of Zoology at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, a position he held from 1983 to 2000. From 1991 to 1998, he was the President of the Tropical Biology Association. From 1994 to 1998, he chaired the

European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes science in Europe. It was e ...

Program in Population Biology. In 1995, he served as Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, and in 1995-1996, he was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Basel. From 2002 to 2005, he chaired the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, where he has been the Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology since 2000.

Investment in Infrastructure

In 1987, Stearns helped to found the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) and later served on its council and as its president.. He founded the

Journal of Evolutionary Biology The ''Journal of Evolutionary Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published monthly covering the field of evolutionary biology. It is owned by the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. The founding editor-in-chief was Stephen C. ...

, ESEB's main journal, and served as its first managing editor from 1986 to 1991 before later joining its Editorial Board. In 1991, he and Tim Clutton-Brock founded the Tropical Biology Association. In 2013, he founded the online open-access journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health and served five years as its first editor-in-chief.

Awards and honors

* 1987: Elected Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. * 1993: European Chair of Biology at the École normale supérieure, Paris. * 2000: Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications for a book he wrote with his wife, Beverly Peterson Stearns, ''Watching, from the Edge of Extinction.'' * 2000: Distinguished Ecologist,

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. * 2004: Raymond Pearl Memorial Lecturer, Human Biology Association. * 2005: Fellow, Konrad Lorenz Institute. * 2005: Fellow, Rockefeller Bellagio Conference and Study Center. * 2005: Honorary Member of the Swiss Zoological Society. * 2007: Fellow, European Society for Evolutionary Biology. * 2011: DeVane Medal for distinction in undergraduate teaching, Yale University Phi Beta Kappa. * 2011–2012: Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin * 2015: Honorary Doctorate, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Zurich. * 2021: Yale College Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize

Selected publications

Books

* ''The Evolution of Sex and its Consequences'' (Birkhaeuser 1987) * ''The Evolution of Life Histories'' (Oxford University Press 1992) * ''Evolution in Health and Disease'' (Oxford University Press 1999, 2nd Ed with Jacob Koella 2007)
''Watching, from the Edge of Extinction''
(first author Beverly Peterson Stearns, Yale University Press 1999) * ''Evolution, an Introduction'' (with Rolf Hoekstra, Oxford University Press 2000, 2nd Ed 2005) * ''Evolutionary Medicine'' (with Ruslan Medzhitov, Sinauer 2016, 2nd edition Oxford University Press 2024)

Papers

*. *. *. *. *.

References

External links

Stearns' web site
at

Stearns' introductory course ''Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior''
at

Open Yale Courses Open Yale Courses is a project of Yale University to share full video and course materials from its undergraduate courses. Open Yale Courses provides free access to a selection of introductory courses, and uses a Creative Commons Attribution-Nonc ...

Evolution and Medicine (2015) with Stephen Stearns, YouTube''Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health''
at

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Stephen C. Living people 1946 births 21st-century American biologists Yale University faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Yale University alumni American evolutionary biologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Academic staff of the University of Basel University of British Columbia alumni