Project Steve

Project Steve is a list of scientists with the given name Stephen or a variation thereof (e.g., Stephanie, Stefan, Esteban, etc.) who "support evolution". It was originally created by the National Center for Science Education as a "tongue-in-cheek parody" of creationist attempts to collect a list of scientists who "doubt evolution," such as the Answers in Genesis' list of scientists who accept the biblical account of Creation according to Genesis [ [http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/#presentsci List of living scientists who accept the biblical account of creation] from Answers in Genesis] or the Discovery Institute's "A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism". The list pokes fun at such endeavors in a "light-hearted" manner to make it clear that, "We did not wish to mislead the public into thinking that scientific issues are decided by who has the longer list of scientists!" [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3541_project_steve_2_16_2003.asp NCSE Project Steve] official webpage, National Center for Science Education, February 16, 2003]

However, at the same time the project is a genuine collection of scientists. Despite the list's restriction to only scientists with names like "Steve", which in the United States limits the list to roughly 1 percent of the total population, [According to the United States Census, about 1.6% of males and 0.4% of females have a first name that would qualify them to sign the petition. Therefore, about 1% of all people in the United States are called Steve or some name that is close to Steve. Therefore, if one can get N scientists named Steve or something similar to endorse the petition, one might expect that roughly 100xN scientists with all kinds of names would endorse the petition.] "Project Steve" is longer and contains many more eminent scientists than any creationist list. In particular, "Project Steve" contains many more biologists than the creationist lists, since about 2/3 of the Steves are biologists.cite web|url=http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/5945_the_faqs_2_16_2003.asp|title=Project Steve: FAQs, National Center for Science Education website, February 16, 2003, last updated December 28, 2005]

The "Steve-o-meter" webpage provides an updated total of scientist "Steves" that have signed the list. The Steve-o-meter registered 963 Steves as of October 3, 2008. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/meter.html Steve-o-meter] ]

tatement

The statement that signatories agree to reads:

There have been some complaints that the statement left out the geological sciences, where evolution is an important principle as well. However, this oversight was noticed too late and it was decided that it would be more effort than it is worth to go back to correct it.

The statement also has been criticized for including a slightly inaccurate statement about common descent, in light of the work of Carl Woese, published in 2002. Woese argues that there is "horizontal transfer of genetic material" among organisms, making the evolutionary trees more complicated than had been previously thought. ["On the evolution of cells," Carl Woese, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 2002 Jun 25; 99 [13] : 8742-8747]

History

The project was named in honor of the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002). It began in 2003, with an official press release on February 16, 2003. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/4023_the_press_release_2_16_2003.asp "TEACH EVOLUTION! Over two hundred scientists named Steve agree"] , National Center for Science Education press release, February 16, 2003.] The press release was issued at the
American Association for the Advancement of Science's 2003 convention in Denver, Colorado, after a lecture by Lawrence Krauss titled "Scientific Ignorance as a Way of Life: From Science Fiction in Washington to Intelligent Design in the Classroom." Krauss made the actual announcement and directed the reporters to NCSE Director Eugenie Scott, who was sitting in the audience in the front row.

The original goal was to collect the signatures of 100 Steves, but this goal was reached in about 10 days. Both Nobel Prize-winning Steves in science, Steven Chu and Steven Weinberg were among the first 100 Steves. Over 200 Steves responded in the first month. [http://www.geotimes.org/may03/column.html "All About Steve (and Darwin)"] , Glenn Branch and Skip Evans, Geologic Column, [http://www.geotimes.org/current/ Geotimes] , May 2003.] As the news of "Project Steve" spread by word-of-mouth, ever-increasing numbers of Steves contacted the NCSE, and the list continued to grow.

"Project Steve" captured the attention of the media. The first media coverage included articles in the Washington Times, Science, the Oakland Tribune and an interview of NCSE director Eugenie Scott by Australian science journalist and radio broadcaster Robyn Williams for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio show, "The Science Show". "The Science Show" arranged for Geoff Sirmai and David Fisher of the Australian musical comedy team "Comic Roasts" to write the "Steve Song", a parody of the Monty Python song about Spam, for Project Steve. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/8860_the_steve_song__3_15_2005.asp '"The Steve Song!] , National Center for Science Education, March 15, 2005.] [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/stevesong.wma Steve Song] wma audio file, National Center for Science Education website] The song had its debut on "The Science Show" episode featuring the interview of Scott which aired on Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National on the 8th of March, 2003. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s798387.htm "The Steve Project"] , radio show transcript, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/default.htm The Science Show] , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 8, 2003.]

Cambridge University Lucasian Professor of Mathematics Stephen Hawking was the 300th Steve to sign the list. By the time the announcement was made on April 21, 2003, another five had joined to bring the total number of Steves to 305. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2003/ZZ/751_hawking_is_steve_300_4_21_2003.asp "Hawking is Steve #300"] , National Center for Science Education, April 21, 2003.] By December 26, 2003, St. Stephen's Day, "Project Steve" had grown to 400 scientists. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2003/ZZ/244_project_steve_update_12_26_2003.asp "Project Steve Update"] , National Center for Science Education, December 26, 2003.]

As Project Steve reached the 400 scientist mark, the NCSE decided to offer a commemorative novelty "Project Steve" t-shirt. The t-shirt is emblazoned with the proclamation, "Over _00 Scientists named Steve Agree, Teach Evolution!" in large letters, where the blank contains the most recent hundreds mark. A list of the current signatories is included in a smaller typeface on the t-shirt as well.

Eugenie Scott, Glenn Branch and Nick Matzke published an article in the July/August 2004 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research (with all the Steves that had signed up to that point listed as co-authors) called "The Morphology of Steve" which contained "the first scientific analysis of the sex, geographic location, and body size of scientists named Steve" [cite journal
author = Eugenie C. Scott, Nick Matzke, Glenn Branch, et al
year = 2004
title = The Morphology of Steve
journal = Annals of Improbable Research
volume = 10
issue = 4
pages = 24–29
url = http://improbable.com/pages/airchives/paperair/volume10/v10i4/morph-steve-10-4.pdf
doi = 10.3142/107951404781540554 ] . The data were obtained using NCSE's "pioneering experimental steveometry apparatus" - the t-shirt.

Shortly after the second anniversary of "Project Steve" in February 2005, 543 Steves had signed the list. A front page story in the Ottawa Citizen marking this event was published on February 20, 2005. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2005/ZZ/154_project_steve_in_ottawa_2_24_2005.asp "Project Steve in Ottawa"] , National Center for Science Education, February 24, 2005.] On September 12, 2005, the 600th Steve signed the list. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2005/ZZ/657_project_steve_n__600_9_16_2005.asp "Project Steve: n > 600"] , National Center for Science Education, September 16, 2005] By February 16, 2006, the third anniversary of "Project Steve"'s official launch, the Steve-o-meter stood at 700. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2006/ZZ/634_announcing_the_ncse_700_club_2_16_2006.asp "Announcing the NCSE 700 Club"] , National Center for Science Education, February 16, 2006.] On April 24, 2007, the list had grown to 800 Steves. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2007/ZZ/201_project_steve_n__800_4_26_2007.asp "Project Steve: n > 800"] , National Center for Science Education, April 26, 2007.]

There have been articles about "Project Steve" in The Times, Scientific American, Yale Daily News, Focus on the Family's "Family News in Focus", The Guardian, MIT's "TechTalk", The Arizona Republic, among many others. [ [http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3563_project_steve_in_the_media_2_17_2003.asp Project Steve in the media] , National Center for Science Education, Last updated February 26, 2004, "retrieved September 11, 2007".]

Reactions

William Dembski, fellow of the Discovery Institute, whose "Scientific Dissent from Darwinism" petition had eight Steves as of July, 2007, [ [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=660 "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism"] , Discovery Institute website] has said that:

Inspired by Project Steve, and motivated by media coverage of the Discovery Institute's "Dissent From Darwinism" list, during the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, R. Joe Brandon initiated a four-day, word-of-mouth petition of scientists in support of evolution in October 2005. During the four-day drive "A Scientific Support For Darwinism And For Public Schools Not To Teach Intelligent Design As Science" gathered 7733 signatures of verifiable scientists. [ [http://www.shovelbums.org/content/view/156/527/ "Results of The Four Day Petition -- 7733 Scientists Agree on: A Scientific Support For Darwinism And For Public Schools Not To Teach Intelligent Design As Science"] , R. Joe Brandon, Shovel Bums LLC website] During the four days of the petition, "A Scientific Support for Darwinism" received signatures at a rate 697,000 percent higher than the Discovery Institute's petition, "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism". [ [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-20-2005/0004173856&EDATE= "Thousands of Scientists Sign Petition Opposing the Teaching of Intelligent Design as Science: No Debate Among Scientists - Regardless of Faith, Intelligent Design Is Not Science"] , PrNewsWire, October 20, 2005]

ee also

*Clergy Letter Project
*Evidence of common descent
*Level of support for evolution

References

External links

* [http://www.ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=18 Project Steve main webpage] , National Center for Science Education website
* [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/steve/ "Project Steve: Humorous Testing of the Scientific Attitudes Toward "Intelligent Design" Via Scientists Named "Steve"] , Talk.Origins webpage, posted: May 26, 2003; last update: October 3, 2003