Nick Matzke Explained

Nicholas J. Matzke is the former Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and served an instrumental role in NCSE's preparation for the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial.[1] One of his chief contributions was discovering drafts of Of Pandas and People which demonstrated that the term "intelligent design" was later substituted for "creationism". This became a key component of Barbara Forrest's testimony.[2] [3] After the trial he co-authored a commentary in Nature Immunology,[4] [5] was interviewed on Talk of the Nation,[6] and was profiled in Seed as one of nine "revolutionary minds".[7]

Training and career

Matzke earned a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Valparaiso University, and a Master's degree by research in Geography from U.C. Santa Barbara.[8] He undertook Ph.D. studies in evolutionary biology at the University of California, Berkeley with John Huelsenbeck[9] earning his degree in 2013.[10] He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. Matzke is currently a phylogeneticist at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland, having previously been a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) fellow at the Australian National University.

Work and publications

Matzke has written many in-depth pieces and has made frequent posts online, including regularly blogging at The Panda's Thumb. In 2003, he wrote a lengthy paper about the evolution of flagella[11] and has continued to challenge claims from intelligent design proponents that flagella are irreducibly complex.[12] [13] [14] He co-authored a critique of Stephen C. Meyer's paper that became important in the Sternberg peer review controversy.[15] [16] He also wrote a chapter-by-chapter critique of Jonathan Wells' book Icons of Evolution,[17] which he described as a "travesty of the notion of honest scholarship" that is "shot through with misrepresentations." In addition to "a bevy of its own errors," Matzke stated that the book contained "numerous instances of unfair distortions of scientific opinion, generated by the pseudoscientific tactics of selective citation of scientists and evidence, quote-mining, and 'argumentative sleight-of-hand,' [by which Matkze means] Wells's tactic of padding his topical discussions with incessant, biased editorializing."[18] While still with the NCSE, he collaborated with Paul R. Gross to contribute a chapter on the use of critical analysis by antievolutionists[19] to their 2006 book Not in Our Classrooms.[20] In less serious or formal work, he co-authored a research parody based on NCSE's Project Steve.[21] He first made a name for himself posting on talk.origins as "Nic Tamzek".[22] He has also written articles on such topics for the popular press.[23]

He is the author of the 2013 R package BioGeoBEARS,[24] which enables statistical comparison of probabilistic models of how the geographic ranges of species evolve on phylogenies, such as models that include or exclude founder-event speciation,[25] geographic distance,[26] or dispersal-influencing traits.[27] He also authored a 2015 paper in the journal Science conducting a dated, Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of antievolution legislation proposed or passed in the United States in the decade following Kitzmiller v. Dover.[28] [29]

References

Secondary

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Farewell, Nick . August 26, 2007 . August 20, 2007 . National Center for Science Education.
  2. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/day6am.html testimony of Barbara Forrest, Kitzmiller v. Dover
  3. http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/10/i_guess_id_real.html I guess ID really was "Creationism's Trojan Horse" after all
  4. Andrea . Bottaro . Matt . Inlay . Nick . Matzke . 2006 . Immunology in the spotlight at the Dover 'Intelligent Design' trial . . 7 . 433–435 . 10.1038/ni0506-433 . 16622425 . 5. 29396637 .
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20060710193314/http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/04/pt_posters_in_n.html PT posters in Nature Immunology
  6. News: Science, Intelligent Design and a 'Flock of Dodos' . . February 23, 2007 . 2008-08-17.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120103132843/http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/10/seed_magazine_n.html Seed Magazine — “Nick Matzke, Legal Beagle”
  8. Remote Sensing and Geostatistical Analysis of Anthropogenic Biomass Burning and Forest Degradation in Madagascar . Nicholas Joseph . Matzke . 2003 . MA . . Santa Barbara, CA.
  9. Web site: Nicholas J Matzke – Graduate Student . 2012. . https://web.archive.org/web/20120524004708/http://ib.berkeley.edu/people/students/person_detail.php?person=370 . dead . May 24, 2012 . November 7, 2019.
  10. Probabilistic Historical Biogeography: New Models for Founder-Event Speciation, Imperfect Detection, and Fossils Allow Improved Accuracy and Model-Testing . Matzke . Nicholas Joseph . 2013 . Berkeley, California . University of California, Berkeley. PhD.
  11. Web site: Evolution in (Brownian) space: a model for the origin of the bacterial flagellum . Nick . Matzke . 2003 . November 7, 2019 . Talk Reason.
  12. Web site: BACKGROUND to 'Evolution in (Brownian) space: A model for the origin of the bacterial flagellum'. November 10, 2003. November 7, 2019. Talk Reason. Nick. Matzke.
  13. http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/09/flagellum_evolu.html Flagellum evolution
  14. Mark J. . Pallen . Nicholas J. . Matzke . 2006 . From The Origin of Species to the origin of bacterial flagella . . 4 . 10 . 784–790 . 10.1038/nrmicro1493 . 16953248. 24057949 .
  15. http://pandasthumb.org/pt-archives/000430.html Meyer's Hopeless Monster
  16. Creationism's Holy Grail: The Intelligent Design of a Peer-Reviewed Paper. Robert. Weitzel. Skeptic. 11. 4. 66–69. August 28, 2005. November 7, 2019. available here at the Talk Reason website and archived at the Wayback Machine on May 6, 2019.
  17. Book: Wells, Jonathan . Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? . Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate) . 2002 . paperback . . 978-0895262769.
  18. Web site: Nick . Matzke . Icon of Obfuscation: Jonathan Wells' book Icons of Evolution and why most of what it teaches about evolution is wrong . . January 23, 2004 . November 7, 2019.
  19. Book: Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools. Eugenie Carol. Scott. Glenn. Branch. Eugenie C. Scott. Glenn Branch. Beacon Press. 2006. 9780807032787. Analyzing Critical Analysis: The Fallback Antievolutionist Strategy. Nicholas J.. Matzke. Paul R.. Gross. Paul R. Gross. registration.
  20. Web site: Not in Our Classrooms . September 21, 2006 . November 7, 2019. National Center for Science Education.
  21. Eugenie C. . Scott . Eugenie C. Scott . Glenn . Branch . Glenn Branch . Nicholas . Matzke . 2004. The Morphology of Steve. Annals of Improbable Research. 10. 4. 24–29. 10.3142/107951404781540554. 60656868 .
  22. Web site: Dembski . William A. . Biology in the Subjunctive Mood: A Response to Nicholas Matzke . ARN.org . 16 August 2022.
  23. News: Evolution or Intelligent Design? The Story of the Bacterial Flagella Motor. Matt A. B.. Baker. Nicholas J.. Matzke. ABC Science. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. November 7, 2019. November 7, 2019.
  24. Web site: BioGeoBEARS - PhyloWiki. 2017-11-14.
  25. Nicholas . Matzke. 2014. Model Selection in Historical Biogeography Reveals that Founder-event Speciation is a Crucial Process in Island Clades.. Systematic Biology. 63. 6. 951–970. 10.1093/sysbio/syu056. 25123369. free.
  26. Matthew . Van Dam . Nicholas . Matzke . 2016 . Evaluating the influence of connectivity and distance on biogeographic patterns in the south-western deserts of North America. . Journal of Biogeography. 43. 8. 1514–1532. 10.1111/jbi.12727. free.
  27. Nicholas . Matzke . 2016 . Trait-dependent dispersal models for phylogenetic biogeography, in the R package BioGeoBEARS . . 56 . suppl 1 . e251–e400 . 10.1093/icb/icw001 . free.
  28. Nicholas . Matzke . 2015 . The Evolution of Antievolution Policies After Kitzmiller v. Dover . . 351 . 6268 . 10–12 . 10.1126/science.aad4057 . 26678877 . free . 2292/41354 . free .
  29. Web site: Nicholas J. . Matzke . December 17, 2015 . November 7, 2019 . Matzke 2015 Science Paper on the Evolution of Antievolution . PhyloWiki .

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