Niles Eldredge

Niles Eldredge, Ph.D., A.B., has been a paleontologist on the curatorial staff of the American Museum of Natural History since 1969. He is currently Curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History, and Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York.

His specialty is the evolution of mid-Paleozoic phacophid trilobites: a group of extinct arthropods that lived between 543 and 245 million years ago. Eldredge's main professional passion is achieving a better fit between historical patterns of stasis and change in the fossil record and evolutionary theory.

Throughout his career, he has used repeated patterns in the history of life to refine ideas on how the evolutionary process actually works. In 1972 Elderidge developed the theory of punctuated equilibria with Stephen Jay Gould. Eldredge went on to develop a hierarchical vision of evolutionary and ecological systems. He is concerned with the rapid destruction of many of the world's habitats and species and has recently developed the sloshing bucket theory which specifies in detail how environmental change governs the evolutionary process.

Eldredge is a critic of the gene-centered reductionist evolutionary theory of ultra-Darwinians and the notion that evolutionary theory can be held accountable to patterns of historical data. His most recent venture is the development of an alternative account to the gene-based notions of evolutionary psychology to explain why human beings behave as they do.

He routinely counters the creationist movement through lectures, articles and books.

Eldredge enjoys playing jazz trumpet and is an avid collector of 19th century cornets. He lives with his wife and 400 cornets in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Education

• Ph.D. (Geology), Columbia University, October 1969
• A.B., Columbia College, New York, June, 1965 (Summa Cum Laude)

Bibliography

• Cracraft, J. and N. Eldredge (eds.) 1979. Phylogenetic Analysis and Paleontology. Columbia University Press, New York

• Eldredge, N. and J. Cracraft. 1980. Phylogenetic Patterns and the Evolutionary Process. Method and Theory in Comparative Biology. Columbia University Press, New York, 349 p. Japanese edition, Soju Shobo, 1990

• Eldredge, N. 1982. The Monkey Business. A Scientist Looks at Creationism. Pocket Books, New York. 157 p. Japanese edition, 1992

• Eldredge, N. and I. Tattersall. 1982. The Myths of Human Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York. 197 p. Japanese edition arranged through Columbia U. Press.; Spanish edition 1986: Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico; Portuguese ed.: 1984, Zahar Editores, Rio de Janeiro; Italian ed., 1984: Boringheri

• Eldredge, N. and S. M. Stanley (eds.). 1984. Living Fossils. Springer Verlag, New York.

• Eldredge, N. 1985. Time Frames. Simon and Schuster, New York. 240 pp. Great Britain: Heilman; Princeton University reprint edition. Italian edition, 1991, hopefulmonster editore

• Eldredge, N. 1985. Unfinished Synthesis. Biological Hierarchies and Modern Evolutionary Thought. Oxford University Press, New York

• Eldredge, N. 1987. Life Pulse. Episodes in the History of Life. Facts on File, New York. Pelican edition (Great Britain)

• Eldredge, N. (ed.). 1987. Natural History Reader on Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York

• Eldredge, N. 1989. Macroevolutionary Dynamics: Species, Niches and Adaptive Peaks. McGraw Hill, New York. Japanese edition: McGraw Hill Publishing Co., Japan, Ltd.

• Eldredge, N., D. Eldredge and G. Eldredge. 1989. The Fossil Factory. Addison Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Massachussetts

• Eldredge, N. 1991. The Miner's Canary. Extinctions Past and Present. Prentice Hall Books, New York; English edition: Virgin Publishing, Ltd.; Korean edition: Moeum Publishers; Italian edition: Sperling and Kupfer. German Edition: Spektrum; U.S. paperback edition: Princeton University Press

• Eldredge, N. 1991. Fossils. The Evolution and Extinction of Species. Photographs by Murray Alcosser. Abrams, New York; Australian edition: Houghton Mifflin; English edition: Aurum Press; German edition: Belser Verlag

• Eldredge, N. (ed.). 1992. Systematics, Ecology and the Biodiversity Crisis. Columbia University Press, New York

• Eldredge, N. and M. Grene. 1992. Interactions. The Biological Context of Social Systems. Columbia University Press, Cambridge, Massachussetts

• Eldredge, N. 1995. Reinventing Darwin. The Great Debate at the High Table of Evolutionary Theory. John Wiley and Sons, New York; English edition: Orion; Italian edition: Einaudi Editore

• Eldredge, N. 1995. Dominion. Henry Holt and Co; paperback edition, University of California Press, 1997

• Eldredge, N. 1998. Life in the Balance. Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis. Princeton University Press. Portugal: Dinalivre; China/Taiwan: International Publishing Co.; Poland: Proscynski; Japan: Seidosha; Spain: TusQuets; Italy: Guilo Einaudi Editore

• Eldredge, N. 1999. The Pattern of Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York

• Eldredge, N. 2000. The Triumph of Evolution...And the Failure of Creationism. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York

• Eldredge, N. (ed.). 2002. Life on Earth. An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California

• Eldredge, N. 2004. Why We Do It. Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene. W.W. Norton, New York