Kenneth R. Miller

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox scientist Kenneth Raymond Miller (born July 14, 1948) is an American cell biologist, molecular biologist, and Professor Emeritus of Biology at Brown University.<ref name=CV>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Brown University">Template:Cite web</ref> Miller's primary research focus is the structure and function of cell membranes, especially chloroplast thylakoid membranes.<ref name=CV/> Miller is a co-author of a major introductory college and high school biology textbook published by Prentice Hall since 1990.<ref name="millerandlevine.com">Template:Cite web</ref>

Miller, who is Catholic, is opposed to creationism, including the intelligent design (ID) movement. He has written three books on the subject: Finding Darwin's God, Only a Theory, and The Human Instinct. Miller has received the Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame. In 2017, he received the inaugural St. Albert Award from the Society of Catholic Scientists.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

Miller graduated from Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey, and then received his Bachelor of Science in biology in 1970 from Brown University. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in biology from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1974.<ref name="BrownFaculty">Template:Cite news</ref> From 1974 to 1980, he taught at Harvard University.

Research

His research involves problems of structure and function in biological membranes, especially chloroplast thylakoid membranes, often involving electron microscopy.<ref name="CV" />

Science advocacy

Miller has voiced his support for what he calls "pro-science" candidates in politics. He has campaigned for school board and education candidates who support the teaching of evolution in Kansas and Ohio. In the science community, he has sought to elevate the understanding of scientists of the roots of the creationist movement, and to encourage the popularization of scientific concepts.

Miller has appeared in court as a witness, and on panels debating the teaching of intelligent design in schools. In 2002, the Ohio State Board of Education held a public debate between two scientists, including Miller, and two proponents of intelligent design.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He testified for the plaintiffs, but only as a fact witness (not as an expert), in Selman v. Cobb County, testing the legality of stickers calling evolution a "theory, not a fact" that were placed on the biology textbook Miller authored. In 2005, the judge ruled that the stickers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This decision was vacated on appeal because of missing records of the previous trial. The case was remanded for additional evidentiary inquiry and new findings, and a list of factual issues that the court would probably want to address included as item 15 a reference to Miller's testimony regarding "the colloquial or popular understanding of the term [theory]" and the suggested question as to whether he has any qualifications to testify as an expert on the popular meaning of the word "theory". The case was remanded back to the lower court and was eventually settled out of court.<ref>Selman, et al. vs. Cobb County Board of Education Template:Webarchive, 25 May 2006.</ref>

Miller was also the plaintiff's lead expert witness in the 2004-2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, challenging the school board's mandate to incorporate intelligent design into the curriculum. The judge in that case also ruled decisively in favor of the plaintiffs.

He spoke at the Skeptics Society's Origins Conference in October 2008,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and at the Veritas Forum on topics such as the relationship between science and religion and the existence of God.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Miller has appeared on the Comedy Central television show The Colbert Report,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> and has made many appearances on C-SPAN debating proponents of creationism and intelligent design. He has debated several supporters of intelligent design including biochemist Michael J. Behe.

He gave a Faraday Institute lecture in April 2009 on "God, Darwin and Design"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and appeared on the Today Programme arguing, "The issue of God is an issue on which reasonable people may differ, but I certainly think that it's an over-statement of our scientific knowledge and understanding to argue that science in general, or evolutionary biology in particular, proves in any way that there is no God."<ref>News recap, Today Programme, BBC, 29 April 2009.</ref>

Publications

General books

Textbooks

Miller is the co-author (with Boston College neurobiologist and marine biologist Joseph Levine) of a major introductory college and high school biology textbook published by Prentice Hall since 1990.<ref name="millerandlevine.com"/> The current edition was published in 2010 by Savvas (which now owns Prentice Hall).<ref name="savvas.com">Template:Cite web</ref> Initially, Prentice Hall approached Joseph Levine to write the textbook after reading an article he wrote in Smithsonian magazine; Levine, who is a former student of Miller's,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> then recruited Miller as a co-author.<ref name="millerandlevine.com"/> Miller and Levine have also co-written a college-level textbook published by the former D.C. Heath and Company, first edition in 1991, entitled Biology: Discovering Life.<ref name="savvas.com"/>

  • Miller, K.R. and Levine, J. (2002) Biology: The Living Science (various editions of high school textbook)

Honors

2006 Public Service Award from the American Society for Cell Biology .<ref>Forrest, Miller to receive ASCB Public Service AwardsTemplate:Dead link. ASCB Newsletter, July 2006.</ref>

2006 Dwight H. Terry Lectureship at Yale University, delivering his lecture "Darwin, God, and Dover: What the Collapse of 'Intelligent Design' Means for Science and for Faith in America."

2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology.<ref>AAAS Programme Book Color Insert after p. 64. Award presented 14 February 2009.</ref>

2010 Elected as a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

May 2014, Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame.

2017, inaugural St. Albert Award from the Society of Catholic Scientists.<ref name=":0" />

Since 2016, Miller has been listed on the board of directors of the National Center for Science Education.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017 he became the president.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

References

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Talks

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