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[[File:StephenGould.jpg|thumb|right|[[Harvard University|Harvard]] paleontologist [[Stephen Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]]

[[File:StephenGould.jpg|thumb|right|[[Harvard University|Harvard]] paleontologist [[Stephen Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]]

<small>(photo obtained from [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Jay_Gould_%28by_Kathy_Chapman%29.jpg Wikimedia commons], see [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Jay_Gould_%28by_Kathy_Chapman%29.jpg  license agreement])</small> ]]

<small>(photo obtained from [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Jay_Gould_%28by_Kathy_Chapman%29.jpg Wikimedia commons], see [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Jay_Gould_%28by_Kathy_Chapman%29.jpg  license agreement])</small> ]]

One of the most famous proponents of the theory of evolution was the late [[Harvard]] paleontologist [[Stephen Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]]. But Gould admitted the following:

One of the most famous proponents of the theory of evolution was the late [[Harvard]] paleontologist [[Stephen Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]]. But Gould admitted the following:

{{cquote|The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils...We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life’s history, yet to preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we never see the very process we profess to study.<ref name="References and Notes: Fossil Gaps">Dr. [[Walt Brown]], Center For Scientific Creationism, [http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes23.html References and Notes: Fossil Gaps]</ref>}}

{{cquote|The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils...We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life’s history, yet to preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we never see the very process we profess to study.<ref name="References and Notes: Fossil Gaps">Dr. [[Walt Brown]], Center For Scientific Creationism, [http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes23.html References and Notes: Fossil Gaps]</ref>}}

[[Image:Mayr.jpg|left|thumb|[[Ernst Mayr]]]]

[[Image:Mayr.jpg|left|thumb|[[Ernst Mayr]]]]

In 1980, David Woodruff wrote in the journal ''Science'' the following: "But fossil species remain unchanged throughout most of their history and the record fails to contain a single example of a significant transition.”<ref name="References and Notes: Fossil Gaps">Dr. [[Walt Brown]], Center For Scientific Creationism, [http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes23.html References and Notes: Fossil Gaps]</ref> The late [[Ernst Mayr]] was a prominent [[Harvard]] [[biology|biologist]] who also served as the director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative [[Zoology]]. Mayr was a staunch evolutionist and [[atheism|atheist]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/1208mayr.asp</ref> who maintained that evolution was a fact, yet in 1982 Mayr was compelled to make the following admission regarding the fossil record in relation to the theory of evolution: "Even the fossil record fails to substantiate any continuity and all novelties appear in the fossil record quite suddenly."<ref>[[Ernst Mayr]], [http://books.google.com/books?id=5f5kg_w2dJ4C&pg=PA441&lpg=PA441&dq=Even+the+fossil+record+fails+to+substantiate+any+continuity+and+all+novelties+appear+in+the+fossil+record+quite+suddenly&source=bl&ots=ZkMciG9ZtD&sig=_4KUqYwe5GKUtuASBXR5v3T9Cpk&hl=en&ei=YaYiSoeIEJmxtgeNyM2zBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3 1982a. Speciation and macroevolution. Evolution 36, page 1120]</ref>

In 1980, David Woodruff wrote in the journal ''Science'' the following: "But fossil species remain unchanged throughout most of their history and the record fails to contain a single example of a significant transition.”<ref name="References and Notes: Fossil Gaps">Dr. [[Walt Brown]], Center For Scientific Creationism, [http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes23.html References and Notes: Fossil Gaps]</ref> The late [[Ernst Mayr]] was a prominent [[Harvard]] [[biology|biologist]] who also served as the director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative [[Zoology]]. Mayr was a staunch evolutionist and [[atheism|atheist]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2003/1208mayr.asp</ref> who maintained that evolution was a fact, yet in 1982 Mayr was compelled to make the following admission regarding the fossil record in relation to the theory of evolution: "Even the fossil record fails to substantiate any continuity and all novelties appear in the fossil record quite suddenly."<ref>[[Ernst Mayr]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=5f5kg_w2dJ4C&pg=PA441&lpg=PA441&dq=Even+the+fossil+record+fails+to+substantiate+any+continuity+and+all+novelties+appear+in+the+fossil+record+quite+suddenly&source=bl&ots=ZkMciG9ZtD&sig=_4KUqYwe5GKUtuASBXR5v3T9Cpk&hl=en&ei=YaYiSoeIEJmxtgeNyM2zBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3 1982a. Speciation and macroevolution. Evolution 36, page 1120]</ref>

In 1985, Gould was more specific regarding his claim that there were intermediate forms and asserted that [[Archaeopteryx]] was an intermediate form.<ref>[[Stephen Jay Gould]], [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_functionalshift.html "Not Necessarily a Wing," Natural History 94 (October 1985): 12-25; ]</ref> Also, according to Dr. Batten, in 1994 the following occurred in regard to Gould's stance on the fossil record:

In 1985, Gould was more specific regarding his claim that there were intermediate forms and asserted that [[Archaeopteryx]] was an intermediate form.<ref>[[Stephen Jay Gould]], [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_functionalshift.html "Not Necessarily a Wing," Natural History 94 (October 1985): 12-25; ]</ref> Also, according to Dr. Batten, in 1994 the following occurred in regard to Gould's stance on the fossil record: