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John Wells
September 19, 1942 - September 19, 2024
I am very sorry to report that our classmate John Wells passed away recently on his 82nd birthday.
 
Jonathan, as he preferred to be called later in life, was well-known as a research biologist, author, teacher, and especially as a challenger of the theory of biological evolution known as Darwinism. He was also an avid advocate of a system of thought about the origins of life called “intelligent design.”
You can read about John’s career on his website http://jonathanwells.org and see him in a casual YouTube interview at https://evolutionnews.org/2024/09/from-puzzles-to-prison-jonathan-wells-in-his-own-words/. You can also read several online tributes to his life and work (see links below).
Here is a summary of Jonathan’s life and work, taken and adapted from a number of lengthy online tributes:
John was born in New York City in 1942 and grew up in New Jersey. He graduated form Montclair High School in 1960, serving as president of the National Honor Society and parliamentarian for the school's Student Faculty. He studied geology at Princeton University on a full scholarship, but dropped out in his junior year. Following a brief stint as a taxi driver, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent two years on active duty in Germany.
After his discharge in 1966, he resumed his studies as a transfer student at the University of California at Berkeley where the movement against the Vietnam War was in full swing. By this time, John's views about the war had changed significantly, and when he was called back to military service by the Army, he refused to report for duty as he felt he could no longer in good conscience serve the country nor wear its uniform.
As a result, he was arrested and sent to the Presidio Stockade in San Francisco where he remained in solitary confinement for four months. He was then jailed at the federal military penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon his release from prison 18 months later, John returned to Berkeley where he completed his undergraduate studies with a major in geology and physics and a minor in biology.
In 1974, Wells joined the Unification Church of the United States, founded in 1954 by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. While earning a master’s degree in religious education at the church’s Unification Theological Seminary in 1978, John became convinced that he should devote his life to “destroying Darwin’s theories of evolution.” With the financial support of the Unification Church, he entered the graduate program at Yale University, focusing his work on the “root of the conflict between Darwinian evolution and Christian doctrine.” He earned a PhD in religious studies from Yale in 1986.
In 1994, Wells earned a second PhD, this time in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley. As an anti-evolution activist and biology teacher, he continued to write articles critical of Darwinism and its "survival of the fittest" philosophy.
In 2000, Wells published his book Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth, in which he maintained that “much of what we teach about evolution is wrong.” His goal was to “expose serious inaccuracies in how evolution has been taught in contemporary science textbooks” and show that “many of the most commonly accepted arguments supporting evolution are invalid.” The book offered 10 examples of illustrations in biology textbooks that were “grossly exaggerated, distorted, or patently false," forcing textbook publishers to correct their work.
Wells had to contend with much criticism for his writings, and his views on evolution were widely rejected by the scientific community. Nevertheless, he persisted in disseminating evidence that supported his thinking. Over the years he authored more books including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design, The Myth of Junk DNA, and Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution.
More recently, Wells became recognized as one of the nation’s leading proponents of the theory of “intelligent design.” He served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Science and Culture of the Discovery Institute, a think tank that advocates for the concept of Intelligent Design and aims to permit the teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design concepts in public high school science courses.
Although Jonathan endured much criticism for his scholarly work, his colleagues praised him for his meticulous research and the clarity of his writing, his adherence to truth, his unflappable temperament, his humility, his dogged persistence in advancing his research, and his “immense intellect.”
For an engaging interview with John, see “From Puzzles to Prison: Jonathan Wells in His Own Words” Scroll down to enjoy a You Tube video “Jonathan Wells: Biologist, author of Zombie Science, and Ex-Con?” https://evolutionnews.org/2024/09/from-puzzles-to-prison-jonathan-wells-in-his-own-words/
Here are additional articles from Evolution News and Wikipedia about the career of Jonathan Wells:
Farewell to Jonathan Wells, Iconoclastic Scientist by David Klinghoffer, September 24, 2024. https://evolutionnews.org/2024/09/farewell-to-jonathan-wells-iconoclastic-scientist/
Remembering Jonathan Wells, a Key Figure in the Intelligent Design Movement, September 27, 2024
https://evolutionnews.org/2024/09/remembering-jonathan-wells-a-key-figure-in-the-intelligent-design-movement/
Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Wells_(intelligent_design_advocate)
More about Jonathan’s books, articles, and videos are available at:
http://jonathanwells.org
https://www.discovery.org/p/wells/
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