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[[Image:StephenGould.jpg|left|thumbnail|170px|[[Stephen Jay Gould]] ]]

[[Image:StephenGould.jpg|left|thumbnail|170px|[[Stephen Jay Gould]] ]]

Because the fossil record is characterized by the abrupt appearance of species and stasis in the fossil record the theory of [[punctuated equilibrium]] was developed and its chief proponents were [[Stephen Gould]], Niles Eldridge, and Steven Stanley.<ref name="puncteq" /> According to the American Museum of Natural History the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium "asserts that evolution occurs in dramatic spurts interspersed with long periods of stasis".<ref>http://www.amnh.org/science/divisions/paleo/bio.php?scientist=eldredge</ref> Because Stephen Gould was the leading proponent of the theory of punctuated equilibrium much of the criticism of the theory has been directed towards Gould.<ref>http://dannyreviews.com/h/The_Dynamics_of_Evolution.html</ref><ref>[http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring02/editor.shtml.htm  Yale Review of Book, Spring 2002 issue, Monograph: Punctuated Equilibrium]</ref>  The development of a new evolutionary school of thought occurring due to the fossil record not supporting the evolutionary position was not unprecedented.  In 1930, Austin H. Clark,  an American evolutionary zoologist who wrote 630 articles and books in six languages, came up with an evolutionary hypothesis called [[zoogenesis]] which postulated that each of the major types of life forms evolved separately and independently from all the others.<ref>http://creation.com/zoogenesis-a-theory-of-desperation</ref>  Prior to publishing his work entitled ''The New Evolution: Zoogenesis'', Clark wrote in a journal article published in the ''Quarterly Review of Biology'' that "so far as concerns the major groups of animals, the creationists seem to have the better of the argument. There is not the slightest evidence that any one of the major groups arose from any other."<ref>http://creation.com/zoogenesis-a-theory-of-desperation#endRef4</ref>

Because the fossil record is characterized by the abrupt appearance of species and stasis in the fossil record the theory of [[punctuated equilibrium]] was developed and its chief proponents were [[Stephen Gould]], Niles Eldridge, and Steven Stanley. According to the American Museum of Natural History the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium "asserts that evolution occurs in dramatic spurts interspersed with long periods of stasis".<ref>http://www.amnh.org/science/divisions/paleo/bio.php?scientist=eldredge</ref> Because Stephen Gould was the leading proponent of the theory of punctuated equilibrium much of the criticism of the theory has been directed towards Gould.<ref>http://dannyreviews.com/h/The_Dynamics_of_Evolution.html</ref><ref>[http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring02/editor.shtml.htm  Yale Review of Book, Spring 2002 issue, Monograph: Punctuated Equilibrium]</ref>  The development of a new evolutionary school of thought occurring due to the fossil record not supporting the evolutionary position was not unprecedented.  In 1930, Austin H. Clark,  an American evolutionary zoologist who wrote 630 articles and books in six languages, came up with an evolutionary hypothesis called [[zoogenesis]] which postulated that each of the major types of life forms evolved separately and independently from all the others.<ref>http://creation.com/zoogenesis-a-theory-of-desperation</ref>  Prior to publishing his work entitled ''The New Evolution: Zoogenesis'', Clark wrote in a journal article published in the ''Quarterly Review of Biology'' that "so far as concerns the major groups of animals, the creationists seem to have the better of the argument. There is not the slightest evidence that any one of the major groups arose from any other."<ref>http://creation.com/zoogenesis-a-theory-of-desperation#endRef4</ref>

In 1995, there was an essay in the ''New York Review of Books'' by the late John Maynard Smith, a noted evolutionary biologist who was considered the dean of British [[Neo-Darwinism|neo-Darwinists]], and Smith wrote the following regarding Gould's work in respect to the theory of evolution:

In 1995, there was an essay in the ''New York Review of Books'' by the late John Maynard Smith, a noted evolutionary biologist who was considered the dean of British [[Neo-Darwinism|neo-Darwinists]], and Smith wrote the following regarding Gould's work in respect to the theory of evolution: