William Ball Provine (February 19, 1942 – September 1, 2015) was an American
historian of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
and of
evolutionary biology
Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life fo ...
and
population genetics
Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...
. He was the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and was a professor in the
Departments of History, Science and Technology Studies, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Biography
Provine was born in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. He held a B.S. in Mathematics (1962), and an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D (1970) in History of Science from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
.
He joined the Cornell faculty in 1969. He suffered seizures in 1995 due to a brain tumour.
Provine died on September 1, 2015, due to complications from the tumor.
History of theoretical population genetics
Provine's Ph.D. thesis, later published as a book, documented the early origins of theoretical population genetics in the conflicts between the
biostatistics
Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...
and
Mendelian
Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biology, biological Heredity, inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, an ...
schools of thought. He documented later developments in theoretical population genetics in his biography of
Sewall Wright
Sewall Green Wright FRS(For) Honorary FRSE (December 21, 1889March 3, 1988) was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. He was a founder of population genetics alongsi ...
, who was still alive and available for interviews. In this book, Provine criticizes Wright for confounding three different concepts of
adaptive landscape
Adaptation, in biology, is the process or trait by which organisms or population better match their environment
Adaptation may also refer to:
Arts
* Adaptation (arts), a transfer of a work of art from one medium to another
** Film adaptation, a ...
: genotype to fitness landscapes, allele frequency to fitness landscapes, and phenotype to fitness landscapes. Provine later grew critical of Wright's views on
genetic drift
Genetic drift, also known as allelic drift or the Wright effect, is the change in the frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to random chance.
Genetic drift may cause gene variants to disappear completely and there ...
, instead attributing observed effects to the consequences of inbreeding and consequent selection at linked sites.
John H. Gillespie
John H. Gillespie is an evolutionary biologist interested in theoretical population genetics and molecular evolution. In molecular evolution, he emphasized the importance of advantageous mutations and balancing selection. For that reason, Gillespi ...
credits Provine with stimulating his interest in the topic of
hitchhiking or "genetic draft" as an alternative to genetic drift. Provine later published his critique of genetic drift in a book. Provine defended the importance of mathematics' contribution to the
modern evolutionary synthesis
Modern synthesis or modern evolutionary synthesis refers to several perspectives on evolutionary biology, namely:
* Modern synthesis (20th century), the term coined by Julian Huxley in 1942 to denote the synthesis between Mendelian genetics and s ...
.
Education reform
In 1970, Provine was instrumental in the founding of Cornell's
Risley Residential College
Prudence Risley Residential College for the Creative and Performing Arts, commonly known as Risley Residential College, Risley Hall, or just Risley, is a program house (themed residence hall) at Cornell University. Unlike most other dormitories o ...
. He was the first faculty member in residence.
Philosophy
Provine was a philosopher,
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and critic of
intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
. He engaged in prominent debates with theist philosophers and scientists about the existence of God and the viability of intelligent design. He debated the founder of the
intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the pseudoscientific Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> idea of intelligent design (ID), which ...
,
Phillip E. Johnson, and the two had a friendly relationship. Provine said that his course on evolutionary biology began by having his students read Johnson's book, ''
Darwin on Trial''.
Provine was a
determinist
Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...
, as he rejected the idea that humans exercise
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...
.
Provine believed that there is no evidence for the existence of
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
, no
life after death
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
, no absolute foundation for moral right and wrong, and no ultimate meaning or purpose for life. He was once a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
like his friend and intellectual rival Johnson, saying their worldviews had been much the same before he became an atheist.
[ Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7dG9U1vQ_U.]
In popular culture
Professor Provine appeared in
Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...
's movie ''
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed''. Provine supervised the dissertation written by
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
member
Greg Graffin
Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...
. Graffin was a student of history of science at Cornell. Provine also supervised
Steve Leveen's sociology dissertation in 1982.
Selected bibliography
''The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics'' 1971,
* Mayr, E., and W. B. Provine, eds., ''The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology'', 1980,
* ''Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology'', 1986,
* Provine, W. B., ed., ''Evolution: Selected Papers by Sewall Wright'', 1986,
* "Geneticists and Race", ''
American Zoologist
''Integrative and Comparative Biology'' is the scientific journal for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (formerly the American Society of Zoologists). Prior to volume 42 (2002), the journal was known as ''American Zoologist'' . ...
'', 1986, 26:857–87.
* "Progress in Evolution and Meaning in Life", in M. Nitecki, ed., ''Evolutionary Progress'', 1989,
* Cain, A. J., and W. B. Provine, "Genes and Ecology in History", in Berry, R. J., et al., eds., ''Genes in Ecology: 33rd Symposium of the British Ecological Society'', 1992,
* ''The "Random Genetic Drift" Fallacy'', 2014,
References
External links
Cornell page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Provine, William
1942 births
2015 deaths
American atheists
American biologists
American historians
Atheist philosophers
Cornell University Department of History faculty
Cornell University faculty
Critics of creationism
Determinists
Historians of science
University of Chicago alumni
Modern synthesis (20th century)