Blue Collar Scientist

When I started thinking about how I should name some asteroids, I quickly discovered that PZ Myers had not yet had one named for him. I believe that the work he’s doing to explain evolution and oppose creationism is absolutely critical to the public perception of science, and I’m very aware that evolution is just the issue of the day. It is abundantly clear from my own (modest by comparison) science education activities that those who hate evolution have an equal hatred for the big bang theory, for the notion of cosmological distances, and for many other things that we have learned from astronomy.

If the biologists are overrun, the hordes will storm the big bang next. So PZ is doing yeoman service at insulating my discipline from the denialists. But more than this, he’s damn good at what he does¹. I remember reading PZ in the talk.origins days, and I’ve been reading his blog just about forever. I’ve benefitted enormously from it, in terms of the amount of knowledge I’ve soaked up (in a field well outside my own discipline), and it has materially enhanced my ability to respond to antievolutionists that attend my own programs. Besides this, I’ve derived hours - probably a few too many hours - of enjoyment from his writing.

The naming citation I submitted for PZ Myers reads:

Paul Myers (b. 1957), associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris, was among the first to study zebrafish as models for evolution and human development. As author of the blog Pharyngula and through public appearances and debates, he educates the public about evolution and science.

I talked to PZ on the telephone Sunday evening, to tell him of the asteroid naming and give him a little warning that he was likely to see some publicity about it. Although I was quite nervous calling up one of my heroes in such a brazen manner, I’m happy to report that PZ is an incredibly likable guy, and that I had no unpleasant experiences with stray tentacles. I will doubtless never know PZ well, but I’m glad that I can say I feel this naming is appropriate not only because of Dr. Myers’ professional accomplishments, but also because of his good character.

1. regardless of what Nisbet and Mooney say. [↩]

Tags: 153298 Paulmyers, asteroid, Pharyngula, PZ Myers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 5:01 am and is filed under astronomy, evolution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.