Nick Matzke

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Nicholas J. Matzke is Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), the leading American pro-science anti-creationist organisation.

He holds a double BS in biology and chemistry from Valparaiso University and a Master's degree in geography. He has written an extensive critique of Jonathan Wells's book Icons of Evolution[1] and is a regular contributor to The Panda's Thumb, including a critique co-authored with Alan Gishlick and Wesley R. Elsberry of Stephen C. Meyer's intelligent design paper which was at the center of the Sternberg peer review controversy[2]. He previously posted under the nom de plume "Nic Tamzek".

Matzke worked for over a year for the NCSE in preparation for the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District "intelligent design trial", and it was he who uncovered the creationists drafts of Of Pandas and People which formed a devastating part of Barbara Forrest's testimony[3][4]. He has since co-authored with Andrea Bottaro and Matt Inlay a commentary on the Dover trial in Nature Immunology[5][6][7].

Matzke also has an interest in the evolution of flagella, and claims by ID proponents such as Michael Behe that flagella are "irreducibly complex" has reached "near-iconic status for the ID movement"[8]. Matzke published online an essay "Evolution in (Brownian) space: a model for the origin of the bacterial flagellum"[9]. With Mark J. Pallen, he published a 2006 review article in Nature Reviews Microbiology on this issue[10][11][12]. He has also contributed to the NCSE's book Not in Our Classrooms[13]. Less seriously he has co-authored with Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch a 2004 paper on "The Morphology of Steve" in the Annals of Improbable Research which arose from the NCSE's Project Steve[14].

Matzke is profiled in the November 2006 edition of Seed magazine as a "revolutionary mind"[15][16].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Icon of Obfuscation: Jonathan Wells's book Icons of Evolution and why most of what it teaches about evolution is wrong, Nick Matzke, TalkOrigins Archive
  2. ^ Meyer's Hopless Monster, The Panda's Thumb
  3. ^ testimony of Barbara Forrest, Kitzmiller v. Dover
  4. ^ I guess ID really was “Creationism’s Trojan Horse” after all, Panda's Thumb
  5. ^ Andrea Bottaro, Matt Inlay and Nick Matzke (2006). "Immunology in the spotlight at the Dover 'Intelligent Design' trial". Nature Immunology 7: 433-435.
  6. ^ PT posters in Nature Immunology, The Panda's Thumb
  7. ^ Evolutionary Immunology in the Kitzmiller Case, NCSE - Evolution Education and the Law.
  8. ^ Background to "Evolution in (Brownian) space: a model for the origin of the bacterial flagellum" (2003)
  9. ^ Evolution in (Brownian) space: a model for the origin of the bacterial flagellum
  10. ^ Pallen and Matzke in Nature Reviews Microbiology, NCSE.
  11. ^ Flagellum evolution in Nature Reviews Microbiology, The Panda's Thumb.
  12. ^ Mark J. Pallen and Nicholas J. Matzke (2006). "From The Origin of Species to the origin of bacterial flagella". Nature Reviews Microbiology 4 (10): 784-790.
  13. ^ Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools edited by Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch ISBN 0-807-03278-6 http://www.ncseweb.org/nioc/
  14. ^ Eugenie C. Scott, Glenn Branch and Nick Matzke (2004). "The Morphology of Steve". Annals of Improbable Research 10 (4): 24-29.
  15. ^ Matzke profiled in Seed, NCSE.
  16. ^ Seed Magazine — “Nick Matzke, Legal Beagle” The Panda's Thumb

[edit] External links

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