Professor William B. Provine is an American historian of science, particularly of evolutionary biology and population genetics. He is the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor at Cornell University and is a professor in the Department of History. He holds a B.S., M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Chicago.

Provine is an atheist and staunch opponent of "intelligent design creationism." He is well known for engaging in debates with theist philosophers and scientists about the existence of god and the viability of intelligent design as a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution. Provine also rejects the existence of free will.^[1]

Provine supervised the thesis written by Bad Religion member Greg Graffin when Graffin was a student of paleobiology at Cornell.

In 1970, Provine was instrumental in the founding of Cornell's Risley Residential College and was its first faculty member in residence.

Selected Bibliography

• The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics, 1971, ISBN 0-226-68465-2
• Mayr, E. and W. B. Provine, eds. The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology, 1980 ISBN 0674272250
• Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology, 1986, ISBN 0-226-68473-3
• Provine, W. B., ed. Evolution: Selected papers by Sewall Wright, 1986, ISBN 0226910539
• "Geneticists and race", 1986, American Zoologist 26:857-887.
• "Progress in evolution and meaning in life", 1989, In: M. Nitecki, ed., Evolutionary Progress, ISBN 0-226-58692-8
• Cain, A. J. and W. B. Provine "Genes and ecology in history" in Berry, R. J., T. J. Crawford, G. M. Hewitt, eds. Genes in Ecology: 33rd Symposium of the British Ecological Society, 1992 ISBN 0-521-54936-1

Notes

1. ↑ Evolution: Free will and punishment and meaning in life 1998. Second Annual Darwin Day Celebration. http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/darwin/DarwinDayProvineAddress.htm

External links

• Cornell page