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Evolution Is 'Theory' In Name Only

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By HAROLD KROTO

Published: February 18, 2008

On Tuesday, Florida's State Board of Education will adopt new standards pertaining to the teaching of science in our state's public schools. Most significantly, the new standards are expected to acknowledge that evolution is the fundamental concept underlying all of biology.

Now comes word that some influential state lawmakers want to ensure that evolution in the new science standards has the word "theory" before it. So the standards would say "theory of evolution." These lawmakers say that this will stress the fact that evolution is a theory, not a fact - and they are said to be considering asking the Legislature to force the State Board of Education to adopt the wording change if it doesn't do so on its own.

What these lawmakers fail to appreciate is that there are two types of theory - scientific theories and unscientific theories.

Scientific theories are those that are considered "true" or "facts" because they have been found experimentally to work and we know why they work. Unscientific theories, however, have been found wanting when similarly experimentally tested.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a "fact" because, among many other things, it underpins every aspect of biology and medicine and is, for instance, absolutely crucial in our never-ending battle against life-threatening diseases.

In fact, the 1859 treatise by Charles Darwin, "The Origin of Species - By Means of Natural Selection," is arguably the most beautiful example of a "factual" or "true" scientific theory. Darwin's theory is as fundamental to biology as Mendeleev's Periodic Table Theory is to the chemical sciences.

It explained perfectly Darwin's exhaustively meticulous, carefully documented, painstakingly detailed and accurately recorded observations. Not only were Darwin's original observations explained, but every pertinent observation made since has fitted perfectly. For the last 150 years, supporting evidence has flooded in from every branch of the sciences: paleontology, anthropology, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc. There are millions of pieces in the jigsaw puzzle, and they all fit perfectly.

Furthermore, the theory of evolution is absolutely crucial to a wide range of humanitarian issues: the development of effective antibiotic strategies for fighting diseases, for example. Penicillin is a miraculous drug that has saved countless lives - it works almost every time, and when it does not work, we know why and can try to devise an alternative strategy. Or consider DNA fingerprinting, which has led to the release from prison of numerous innocent people - many from death row - and to therapies for safeguarding the lives of children who have serious genetically transmitted illnesses.

That so much medical science works so well on so complex a system as the human body is the most obvious and compelling vindication of the Theory of Evolution.

It is disgracefully unethical for individuals who rail against the teaching of evolution as a proven "fact" to accept, either for themselves or their families, the humanitarian benefits accruing from medical scientific research underpinned by the theory.

Evolution is the backbone of biology, in particular molecular biology, and such people should be asked to forgo all medical treatments - including almost all drugs - that could not have been developed if previous generations of young biology and medical students had not been taught evolutionary concepts to aid the development of medical advances.

Sir Harold Kroto is the Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University. A 1996 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, he is the director of the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

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