David Snoke

David W. Snoke
Residence Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Fields Physics
Institutions University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania
American Physical Society

David W. Snoke is a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "[f]or his pioneering work on the experimental and theoretical understanding of dynamical optical processes in semiconductor systems."[1] In 2004 he co-wrote a controversial paper with prominent intelligent design proponent Michael Behe.

Academic career

Snoke received his PhD in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked for The Aerospace Corporation and was a visiting scientist and Fellow at the Max Planck Institute.[2]

His research has focused on basic processes and phase transitions of electrons, holes, including nonequilibrium dynamics of electron plasma [3][4] and excitons,[5] the Mott transition from exciton gas to electron-hole plasma[6][7] and Bose–Einstein condensation of excitons and polaritons.[8][9] His research group at the University of Pittsburgh uses stress to trap excitons in confined regions,[10] similar to the way atoms are confined in traps for Bose–Einstein condensation experiments.

Behe and Snoke (2004)

In 2004, Snoke co-authored an article with Michael Behe, a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, in the scientific journal Protein Science,[11] which received widespread criticism. Behe has stated that the results of the paper support his notion of irreducible complexity, based on the calculation of the probability of mutations required for evolution to succeed. However, the published version did not address the concept directly; according to Behe, all references to irreducible complexity were eliminated prior to the paper's publication at the behest of the reviewers.[12] Michael Lynch authored a response,[13] to which Behe and Snoke responded.[14] Protein Science discussed the papers in an editorial.[15] Protein Science received letters that "contained many points of disagreement with the Behe and Snoke article", including the points that:[15]

  • Substantial variation in the rate of mutation fixation occurs, both between lineages and between sites on a protein during evolution. This is a central concept of modern population genetics [citations removed]
  • Changes in one site are known to cause changes in the mutation and acceptance rate at other sites in a protein, generally called "compensatory" changes [citations removed]
  • Recombination strongly accelerates the rate of joining of independent mutations at multiple sites and of grafting new domains with additional functions and sites of interaction to proteins to create new modes of action or regulation [citations removed]
  • Selection acts continuously, and cumulative effects, rather than a single strongly adaptive change, are the basis of evolution under a Darwinian model. Thus, intermediate states must also be assumed to be selected.

The paper's assumptions have been severely criticised and the conclusions it draws from its mathematical model have been both criticised and contradicted:

On May 7, 2005, Behe described the paper in presenting arguments for irreducible complexity in his testimony at the Kansas evolution hearings.[19] At the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial later that year it was the one article referenced by both Behe and Scott Minnich as supporting intelligent design. In his ruling, Judge Jones noted that "A review of the article indicates that it does not mention either irreducible complexity or ID. In fact, Professor Behe admitted that the study which forms the basis for the article did not rule out many known evolutionary mechanisms and that the research actually might support evolutionary pathways if a biologically realistic population size were used."[20]

A Biblical Case for an Old Earth (2006)

His book, A Biblical Case for an Old Earth (Baker Books, 2006) was described in a review by Law Professor David W. Opderbeck, in the American Scientific Affiliation's Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith as "succeed[ing] admirably" in "establish[ing] that the 'day-age' view is a valid alternative for Christians who hold to biblical inerrancy", but as "less persuasive" at "argu[ing] for a concordist understanding of the Genesis texts and modern science."[21] Snoke was elected a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation in 2006.[2]

Bibliography

References

  1. Archive (1995-present), American Physical Society
  2. 1 2 "ASA newsletters, November/December 2006" (PDF).
  3. D.W. Snoke; W.W. Ruehle; Y.-C. Lu; E. Bauser (1992). "Nonthermal Distribution of Electrons on Picosecond Timescale in GaAs". Physical Review Letters. 68 (7): 990–993. Bibcode:1992PhRvL..68..990S. PMID 10046050. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.990.
  4. D.W. Snoke (1992). "Density dependence of electron scattering at low density". Physical Review B. 50 (16): 11583–11591. Bibcode:1994PhRvB..5011583S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.50.11583.
  5. D.W. Snoke; D. Braun; M. Cardona (1991). "Carrier thermalization in Cu2O: Phonon emission by excitons". Physical Review B. 44 (7): 2991. Bibcode:1991PhRvB..44.2991S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.44.2991.
  6. D.W. Snoke; J.D. Crawford (1995). "Hysteresis in the Mott transition between plasma and insulating gas". Physical Review E. 52 (6): 5796. Bibcode:1995PhRvE..52.5796S. arXiv:cond-mat/9507116Freely accessible. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.52.5796.
  7. D.W. Snoke (2008). "Hysteresis in the Mott transition between plasma and insulating gas". Solid State Communications. 146: 73. Bibcode:2008SSCom.146...73S. arXiv:0709.1415Freely accessible. doi:10.1016/j.ssc.2008.01.012.
  8. Z. Voros; D. Snoke; L. Pfeiffer; K. West (2006). "Trapping Excitons in a Two-Dimensional In-Plane Harmonic Potential: Experimental Evidence for Equilibration of Indirect Excitons". Physical Review Letters. 97 (1): 016803. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..97a6803V. PMID 16907396. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.016803.
  9. R. Balili; V. Hartwell; D.W. Snoke; L. Pfeiffer; K. West (2007). "Bose-Einstein Condensation of Microcavity Polaritons in a Trap". Science. 316 (5827): 1007–10. Bibcode:2007Sci...316.1007B. PMID 17510360. doi:10.1126/science.1140990.
  10. V. Negoita; D.W. Snoke; K. Eberl (1999). "Stretching Quantum Wells: a Method for Trapping Free Carriers in GaAs Heterostructures". Applied Physics Letters. 75 (14): 2059. Bibcode:1999ApPhL..75.2059N. doi:10.1063/1.124915.
  11. Michael Behe and David W. Snoke (2004). "Simulating evolution by gene duplication of protein features that require multiple amino acid residues". Protein Science. 13 (10): 2651–2664. PMC 2286568Freely accessible. PMID 15340163. doi:10.1110/ps.04802904.
  12. Michael J. Behe, Day 10, morning testimony, in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, trial transcript page 46
  13. Michael Lynch (2005). "Simple evolutionary pathways to complex proteins". Protein Science. 14 (9): 2217–2225. PMC 2253472Freely accessible. PMID 16131652. doi:10.1110/ps.041171805.
  14. Michael Behe; David W. Snoke (2005). "A response to Michael Lynch". Protein Science. 14 (9): 2226. doi:10.1110/ps.051674105.
  15. 1 2 Mark Hermodson (2005). "Editorial and position papers". Protein Science. 14 (9): 2215. doi:10.1110/ps.051654305.
  16. Theory is as Theory Does, Ian F. Musgrave, Steve Reuland, and Reed A. Cartwright, Talk Reason
  17. Masel, Joanna (March 2006). "Cryptic Genetic Variation Is Enriched for Potential Adaptations". Genetics. 172 (3): 1985–1991. PMC 1456269Freely accessible. PMID 16387877. doi:10.1534/genetics.105.051649.
  18. Afriat, Livnat; Cintia Roodveldt; Giuseppe Manco; Dan S. Tawfik (November 21, 2006). "The Latent Promiscuity of Newly Identified Microbial Lactonases Is Linked to a Recently Diverged Phosphotriesterase" (PDF). Biochemistry. 45 (46). doi:10.1021/bi061268r.
  19. "Kansas Evolution Hearings: Michael Behe and John Calvert". Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  20. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707, 745 (M.D.Pa December 20, 2005). , docket # 04cv2688, Ruling, page 88
  21. Opderbeck, David W. (2007). "Review of 'A Biblical Case for an Old Earth'". Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. American Scientific Affiliation.
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