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Richard Sternberg

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Richard M. von Sternberg
Alma materState University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY Binghamton) and Florida International University (FIU}
Known forSternberg peer review controversy
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical Biology, Systems Science, and Molecular Evolution[1]
InstitutionsNational Institutes of Health
Doctoral advisorGeorge J. Klir at SUNY Binghamton and Scott Quackenbush at FIU

Richard M. von Sternberg is an American scientist and intelligent design proponent. He was the editor of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington who handled the review and editing process of the only article published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal advocating intelligent design. The journal subsequently declared that the paper "does not meet the scientific standards of the Proceedings" and would not have been published had usual editorial practices been followed.[2]

Biography

Sternberg has two PhDs; the first from 1995 in molecular evolution from Florida International University, and a second in systems science from Binghamton University. He did post-doctoral work between 1999 and 2001 at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution and in 2001 became an unpaid research associate there.[3]

Sternberg subscribes to the school of thought of process structuralism.[4]

In 2001, he became managing editor of the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington and joined the board of the International Journal of General Systems. The Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington is a taxonomic journal which usually publishes descriptions of newly-identified species. In the same year, he also joined the editorial board of the Baraminology study group, a young earth creationist "creation science" attempt to identify and classify the created kinds mentioned in scripture. He has stated that he is an outside critic and remained skeptical of their young earth beliefs.[5] Sternberg serves as a fellow of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID), an intelligent design group.[6] In 2002, Sternberg presented a lecture on intelligent design at the ISCID's Research And Progress in Intelligent Design (RAPID) conference.[7] He is also a signatory to the Discovery Institute's Scientific Dissent from Darwinism petition.[8]

Peer review controversy

Main article: Sternberg peer review controversy

In June 2004, a paper by Stephen C. Meyer advocating intelligent design was published in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, a peer reviewed scientific journal with declining manuscript submissions,[9] fulfilling a goal of the intelligent design movement since its inception. Meyer serves as the Director of the Center for Science and Culture, part of the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement.[6]

The editor for the issue of the Proceedings in which the Meyer article appears was Sternberg, and the issue was to be his last before stepping down having resigned in October 2003.[9] Sternberg's decision to publish Meyer's paper and the method by which it was done prompted controversy,[10][11] ultimately resulting in the journal's publisher deeming the paper inappropriate for publication on the grounds that its subject matter represented a significant departure from the journal's normal content and stating that it did not meet the scientific standards of the journal.[12] They also stated that Sternberg went outside the usual review procedures to allow Meyer's article to be published.[12][10]

Sternberg disputes the publisher's statement and claims that, after the controversy became public, unnamed groups attempted to pressure the NIH to fire him and efforts were made to remove him from his role of research associate at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.[13][14] The result of the latter, he claims, was that "it was made clear to me that my current position at the Smithsonian will not be renewed." Sternberg filed a claim that afterward he was "targeted for retaliation and harassment" for his religious beliefs at the Smithsonian. The claim was rejected in August, 2005 on the grounds that Sternberg was not actually an employee. A partisan[15] report issued by Republican intelligent design advocates Mark Souder and Rick Santorum echoed Sternberg's claims about his treatment at the Smithsonian, but no action has resulted.[16][17][18] The Discovery Institute often cites the Souder report as evidence that Sternberg specifically, and design proponents in general, are victims of persecution, and the Sternberg peer review controversy has become one of the examples of discrimination often cited in the Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns.

Ed Brayton, a freelance writer and co-founder of Michigan Citizens for Science and The Panda's Thumb suggested that "[w]hat little ill-treatment Sternberg may have gotten ... was largely self-inflicted" and that "[t]he evidence does not support the conclusion that Sternberg was discriminated against in any material way", but that "[a]t absolute worst, he was greeted with professional mistrust and anger on the part of some of his colleagues, who were upset that his actions in regard to the Meyer paper brought disrepute to the Smithsonian and to them as associates."[19] The National Center for Science Education and the Smithsonian also assert that Sternberg did not suffer any substantial ill-effects.[20] NCSE executive directer Eugenie Scott suggested that he did not really suffer: "You know, what's his complaint? People weren't nice to him. Well, life is not fair."[20]

Publications

Richard Sternberg has many articles, including:[1]

  • Cumberlidge, N. and R. v. Sternberg (2003). The freshwater crabs of Madagascar. In: The Natural History of Madagascar, eds. Steven M. Goodman and Jon Benstead, University of Chicago Press, pp. 612-617.
  • Cavanaugh, D.P. & R. v. Sternberg (2004). Analysis of morphological groupings using ANOPA, a pattern recognition and multivariate statistical method: a case Study involving centrarchid fishes. J. Biol. Systems 12: 137-167.
  • Salthe, S. N. & R. v. Sternberg. Complex systems and explanation. In the journal Nature’s: “Encyclopedia of the Human Genome” (in press).
  • Sternberg, R. v. & M. Schotte (2004). A new species of the anchialine shrimp genus Procaris (Decapoda: Caridea: Procarididae) from Mexico. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 117(4).
  • Shapiro, J.A. & R. v. Sternberg (2005). Why repetitive DNA is essential for genome function. Biol. Rev. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 80: 227-250.
  • Sternberg, R. v. & J. A. Shapiro (2005). How repeated retroelements format genome function. Cytogenet. Genome Res. 110: 108-116.


References

  1. ^ a b Richard Sternberg Curriculum vitae (partial)
  2. ^ http://www.biolsocwash.org/id_statement.html
  3. ^ http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/other_opps/intern/associates04.html
  4. ^ http://www.rsternberg.net/Structuralism.htm
  5. ^ http://www.bryancore.org/bsg/clarifications.html
  6. ^ a b http://www.iscid.org/fellows.php
  7. ^ RAPID schedule
  8. ^ A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
  9. ^ a b Biological Society of Washington Meeting Minutes for 131st Annual Meeting, 15 June 2004
  10. ^ a b ID paper continues to attract scrutiny, National Center for Science Education
  11. ^ Powell, Michael Editor Explains Reasons for 'Intelligent Design' Article from the Washington Post
  12. ^ a b http://www.biolsocwash.org/id_statement.html
  13. ^ http://www.rsternberg.net/Procedures.htm
  14. ^ Biological Society of Washington Form letter sent to all prospective authors Facimile Sternberg's website
  15. ^ The Office of Sternberg Coddling, Steve Reuland, The Panda's Thumb
  16. ^ Intolerance and Politicization of Science at the Smithsonian United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, December 2006.
  17. ^ Appendix to Intolerance and the Politicization of Science at the Smithsonian United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, December 2006.
  18. ^ Lame Ducks Weigh In Reed A. Cartwright. PandasThumb.org, December 15, 2006
  19. ^ Creating a Martyr: The Sternberg Saga Continues, Ed Brayton
  20. ^ a b Hagerty, Barbara Bradley Intelligent Design and Academic Freedom
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