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Henry Gee

{{for|the Dean of Gloucester|Henry Gee (priest)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}

{{Short description|British paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and senior editor of the scientific journal Nature}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Henry Gee

|image = File:Henry Gee, December 2008 cropped.jpg

|image_size =

|caption = Henry Gee (2008)

|birth_name = Henry Ernest Gee

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1962|04|24}}

|birth_place = London{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

|death_date =

|death_place =

|citizenship =

|nationality = British

|ethnicity =

|field = Paleontology
Evolutionary biology

|work_institutions = Nature

|education = Sevenoaks School
Michael Hall school

|alma_mater = {{Plainlist|

}}

| thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.385371

| thesis_title = Bovidae from the Pleistocene of Britain

| thesis_year= 1990

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|prizes = European Science Fiction Society's Best Publisher Award (2005)

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}}

Henry Ernest Gee (born 24 April 1962 in London, England){{Cite web |title=Dr Henry Gee announced as winner of the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize {{!}} Royal Society |url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2022/11/book-prize-2022/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=royalsociety.org}} is a British paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and senior editor of the scientific journal Nature.{{cite web |url= http://www.nature.com/nature/about/editors/index.html |title= About the editors |author= Nature |quote= Henry Gee, Senior Editor, Biology, London. Education: BSc, University of Leeds; PhD, University of Cambridge. Areas of responsibility include: aspects of integrative and comparative biology (including palaeontology, evolutionary developmental biology, taxonomy and systematics), archaeology and biomechanics.|author-link= Nature (journal) }}{{isfdb name|id=Henry_Gee|name=Henry Gee}}[https://www.theguardian.com/profile/henry-gee Articles by Henry Gee] at The Guardian

Early life and education

Gee attended Park Hill Junior School for a short time around 1973. Gee attended Sevenoaks School as a boarder.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} He then{{when|date=March 2018}} attended the Michael Hall School.{{cite news|last1=Sale|first1=Jonathan|title='I was 516th Goblin and a Female Troll'; An education in the life of Henry Gee, writer, scientist and Middle Earth boffin|work=The Independent|date=16 June 2005|id={{ProQuest|310813267}}}} He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Leeds and completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1990 as a postgraduate student of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|url=http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=44CAM_ALMA21428149230003606&context=L&vid=44CAM_PROD&search_scope=SCOP_CAM_ALL&tab=cam_lib_coll&lang=en_US|title=Bovidae from the Pleistocene of Britain|first= Henry Ernest|last=Gee|date=1990|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.385371}}|website=lib.cam.ac.uk|oclc=53501319}} His doctoral research investigated the evolution of bison in Britain in the Ice Age.

Career

Gee joined Nature as a reporter in 1987 and is now Senior Editor, Biological Sciences.{{cite news|url=http://network.nature.com/profile/henrygee |title=Henry Gee's profile |work=Nature Network |year=2011 |access-date=9 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121151316/http://network.nature.com/profile/henrygee |archive-date=21 November 2011}} He has published a number of books, including{{Cite journal|last=Northcutt|first=R. Glenn|date=1996-01-01|editor-last=Gee|editor-first=Henry|title=Heads and Tails|jstor=2890927|journal=Science|volume=274|issue=5293|pages=1629|bibcode=1996Sci...274.1629G|doi=10.1126/science.274.5293.1629a|s2cid=86322160 }}{{Cite journal|last=Gans|first=Carl|date=1997-01-01|title=Review of Before the Backbone: Views on the Origin of the Vertebrates|jstor=3884031|journal=American Zoologist|volume=37|issue=4|pages=433–434|doi=10.1093/icb/37.4.433|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last=Horder|first=T. J.|date=1998-01-01|editor-last=Gee|editor-first=Henry|editor2-last=Bowler|editor2-first=Peter J.|editor3-last=Nyhart|editor3-first=Lynn K.|title=Why do Scientists Need to be Historians?|jstor=3036559|journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology|volume=73|issue=2|pages=175–187|doi=10.1086/420184|s2cid=85669111}} In Search of Deep Time (1999),{{cite web|url=http://www.acampbell.ukfsn.org/bookreviews/r/gee.html|title=Book review: In Search of Deep Time|year=2001|access-date=1 September 2011|quote=Henry Gee, who is now Senior Editor of Nature, was a witness of this turmoil because he was working at the museum as a student in the 1970s, when he got to know the chief actors in the drama. He remains convinced that the science of cladistics is a vital intellectual tool for our understanding of what he calls Deep Time, to distinguish it from ordinary historical time, which he sees as being qualitatively as well as quantitatively different.|author=Campbell, Anthony|archive-date=2 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102025927/http://www.acampbell.ukfsn.org/bookreviews/r/gee.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Sorry, but are we related?|date=8 April 2000|work=The Independent|last1=Vines|first1=Gail|id = {{ProQuest|311638032}}}} A Field Guide to Dinosaurs (illustrated by Luis Rey) (2003) and Jacob's Ladder (2004).

The Accidental Species, a book on human evolution, was published by the University of Chicago Press in October 2013.{{cite news|url= http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo12789718.html|title=Accidental Species|work=University of Chicago Press| year= 2013 | access-date=3 January 2014}}{{cite news|title=A new book challenges the common view of human evolution.|date=25 November 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|id = {{ProQuest|1461911495}}}} According to Stephen Cave (author of Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilisation), Gee writes, "persuasively," that "our obsession with our uniqueness is folly.... We... believe we are so exceptional... that we are the pinnacle of evolution. But this is a misunderstanding: we are just one twig in the thicket, and we could easily have never sprouted at all."{{cite news|title=The Human Touch|date=8 February 2014|work=Financial Times|last1=Cave|first1=Stephen|id = {{ProQuest|1505387176}}}}

In addition to his professional activities, Gee is a blues musician and a Tolkienist. He was the editor of Mallorn, the journal of the Tolkien Society, for nine issues (2008–13). His science fiction trilogy The Sigil, previously available in draft form online, was published by ReAnimus Press in August and September 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1500846|title=Siege of Stars at ISFDB|access-date=2020-02-26}}{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1500845|title=Scourge of Stars at ISFDB|access-date=2020-02-26}}{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1776916|title=Rage of Stars at ISFDB|access-date=2020-02-26}}

On 17 January 2014, Gee revealed the identity of pseudonymous science blogger, Dr. Isis on Twitter.{{cite web|last=Lecher|first=Colin|title=Why Did This Top Science Journal Editor Expose A Blogger's Pen Name?|date=22 January 2014 |url=http://www.popsci.com/article/science/why-did-top-science-journal-editor-expose-bloggers-pen-name}} Dr. Isis was an open critic of the scientific journal Nature, where Gee is a senior editor. Nature released a statement on the matter.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nature.com/press_releases/nature-statement.html|title=Internet Archive Capture of Press release archive: About NPG|website=www.nature.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124051941/http://www.nature.com/press_releases/nature-statement.html|language=en|access-date=2020-10-01|archive-date=24 January 2014}}

His book, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, won the 2022 Royal Society Science Books Prize.{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-11-30 |title='A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth' wins Royal Society Science Book Prize |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2022/11/30/224169/a-very-short-history-of-life-on-earth-wins-royal-society-science-book-prize/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=Books+Publishing |language=en-AU}}

=Personal life =

Residence is in Cromer.

In 2019, he appeared on Christmas University Challenge as a member of the winning Leeds University team, alongside Jonathan Clements and Timothy Allen, captained by Richard Coles.

=Books=

Gee's publications include:Henry Gee's {{ORCID|0000-0002-9363-7654}}{{Cite web |title=Henry Gee |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/G/H/au5541972.html |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=University of Chicago Press |language=en}}

  • 1996: Before the Backbone: Views on the Origin of the Vertebrates New York: Springer Science+Business Media. {{ISBN|0-412-48300-9}}. {{ISBN|978-0-412-48300-4}}.
  • 1999: In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life. Sacramento: Comstock Publishing. Hardcover: {{ISBN|0-684-85421-X}}. Paperback: {{ISBN|0-8014-8713-7}}.
  • 2001: (second edition) Deep Time: Cladistics, the Revolution in Evolution. {{ISBN|1-85702-987-9}}.
  • 2003: A Field Guide To Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook For Travelers in the Mesozoic. Illustrations by Luis Rey. Hauppage: Barron's Educational Series. {{ISBN|0-7641-5511-3}}.
  • 2004: Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|0-393-05083-1}}.
  • 2004: The Science of Middle-Earth: Explaining The Science Behind The Greatest Fantasy Epic Ever Told! Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2004 hardcover: {{ISBN|1-59360-023-2}}. 2005 paperback: {{ISBN|0-285-63723-1}}. (Reviewed in The Guardian){{cite news|title=The Science of Middle-earth|date=19 May 2005|work=The Guardian|last1=Alok|first1=Jha|id = {{ProQuest|244248031}}}}
  • 2008: (ed.) Futures from Nature. New York: Tor Books. {{ISBN|0-7653-1805-9}}.
  • 2013: The Accidental Species: MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226284880}}. (Reviewed in The Daily Telegraph){{cite news|title=The Accidental Species (book review)|date=1 December 2013|work=The Daily Telegraph|id = {{ProQuest|1462697783}}}}
  • 2014: (ed. with Colin Sullivan) Nature Futures 2. New York: Tor Books. {{ISBN|978-1-4668-7998-0}}.
  • 2017: Across the Bridge: Understanding the Origin of the Vertebrates Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-40286-4}}
  • 2021: A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters Pan Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-1250276650}}{{Cite web |title=Henry Gee |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henry-gee/41910 |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=www.panmacmillan.com |language=en}}
  • 2025: The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction. St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN|978-1-250-32558-7}}

References

{{reflist|35em}}

External links

  • Henry Gee. [https://occamstypewriter.org/cromercrox/ The End Of The Pier Show] - Occam's Typewriter
  • Henry Gee. [https://averyshorthistoryoflifeonearth.blogspot.com/p/about-author.html averyshorthistoryoflifeonearth.blogspot.com]

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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gee, Henry Ernest}}

Category:1962 births

Category:British academic journal editors

Category:Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds

Category:British evolutionary biologists

Category:English palaeontologists

Category:English science writers

Category:English science fiction writers

Category:Living people

Category:Science fiction editors

Category:English male novelists

Category:British speculative fiction editors

Category:English male non-fiction writers