The List of Steves
Project Steve — NCSE's lighthearted response to the creationist tradition of amassing lists of "scientists who doubt evolution" — debuted 20 years ago, on February 16, 2003. The signatories endorse a statement describing evolution as "a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences," affirming that "there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence," and characterizing the inclusion of creationism in the public schools as "scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible."
Project Steve is named in honor of the late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, a valiant supporter of both evolution education and NCSE, and only scientists with PhDs (or the equivalent) who share his first name —
Steve, Steven, or Stephen, or cognates such as Stephanie, Stefan, Esteban, and so on — are allowed to endorse the Project Steve statement
After 20 years, the official Steveometer reads 1488, and because only about 1% of the population possesses a qualifying first name, that implies that at least 148,800 scientists would agree with the statement, dwarfing any creationist list.
Described by Steven Pinker as "the most formidable weapon in the fight against neo-creationism today," Project Steve is indeed a superlative accomplishment, demonstrating the emptiness of the creationist attempt to appeal to authority. So to celebrate its 20th year in existence, here are 25 suitably light-hearted superlatives from Project Steve, one for each letter of the alphabet for which there's a Steve.
NCSE would be overjoyed to hear from any qualified applicant whose surname starts with the letter X. Steve Xi, Stephanie Xenopoulos, Esteban Ximenes, where are you?
Know any good Steves?
Meet the Steves As of September 6, 2024, 1498 Steves have signed the statement. Will you be the next Steve?
