Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate)
Jonathan Wells | |
|---|---|
Wells in 2008 | |
| Born | John Corrigan Wells September 19, 1942 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 2024 (aged 82) Poulsbo, Washington, U.S. |
| Known for | Advocacy of intelligent design |
| Education | |
| Education | Princeton University University of California, Berkeley (BS, PhD) Unification Theological Seminary Yale University (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | Charles Hodge's critique of Darwinism: The argument to design (1986) |
| Doctoral advisor | David Kelsey |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology Cell biology |
| Thesis | A confocal microscopy study of microtubule arrays involved in cortical rotation during the first cell cycle of Xenopus embryos (1994) |
| Doctoral advisor | David B. Wake John C. Gerhart |
John Corrigan "Jonathan" Wells (September 19, 1942 – September 19, 2024) was an American molecular biologist, cell biologist, and theologian. He was an advocate of intelligent design, a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God.
After dropping out of Princeton University, Wells joined the Unification Church of the United States in 1974. He earned a doctorate in religious studies from Yale University in 1986 and a second doctorate in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994. He subsequently wrote that the teachings of Sun Myung Moon and his studies at Unification Theological Seminary convinced him to devote himself to "destroying Darwinism". He became a member of several scientific associations and published in academic journals.
In his book Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? (2000), Wells argued that a number of examples used to illustrate biology textbooks were erroneous or exaggerated. Wells said that this shows that evolution conflicts with the evidence, and so argued against its teaching in public education. Some reviewers of Icons of Evolution have said that Wells misquoted experts cited as sources and took minor issues out of context, basing his argument on a flawed syllogism. Wells's views on evolution had been rejected by the scientific community.