Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash
The following people challenged our science (and our writing) in the original Darwins Loaded Dice article. We’re grateful to all of them for doing so.
- Dr Colin Chadfield – https://www.facebook.com/colingchadfield
- Mr Robert Headland – Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge
- Dr Lee Williams – https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thecustomerchampion
Robin Aiello
Some of the phrasing, interpretation and contents of this site owes a particular debt to the knowledge, enthusiasm and perpetual willingness of Robin Aiello to debate evolutionary issues and help colleagues whenever asked. Some months after we first launched the site, Robin tragically and unexpectedly died of a known, long standing heart condition.
Robin took her Degree at Harvard University, where she was taught by Stephen Jay Gould who, along with Nils Eldrege, formulated the theory of Punctuated Evolution and whose book “Ontogeny and Phylogeny” was a major stimulator for the early development of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. An Evolutionary Biologist, diver and ecologist, Robin had a massive knowledge of biology, and an almost intuitive feel for how variations have been selected in animals well adapted to their environment. As well as being a scientist and passionate conservationist, she was a skilled and enthusiastic educator, and in the late noughties she deployed this in a field new to her: that of the small ’expedition’ cruise ships, which provided a perfect outlet for her technical expertise and skills in Zodiac driving, communication, training and management.
Robin’s passing is a loss to conservation, education and evolutionary science. She will be missed. https://www.facebook.com/robin.aiello.3/