Judge John E. Jones III to Receive Medal from Geological Society

October 15, 2009

Judge John E. Jones III '77 (center) poses with Noel Potter, professor emeritus of geology (left), and Judith Totman Parrish, past president of the Geological Society of America.

Federal Judge John E. Jones III, a member of the Dickinson College board of trustees and 1977 graduate of the college, will receive the Geological Society of America’s (GSA) President’s Medal for his 2005 ruling that barred the Dover Area School District from requiring teachers to mention intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in science class.

Jones will receive the award Oct. 17 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. He also will participate in a panel discussion Oct. 19 as part of “Darwin Day” — a day-long 200th birthday celebration of Charles Darwin in conjunction with the GSA’s annual meeting.

“It is particularly fitting that Judge Jones receive this medal in 2009, the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, whose work forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory,” said Judith Totman Parrish, past president of the GSA. “The theory of evolution is one of the foundations of geosciences. Through the study of fossils and living organisms and the changes they have undergone through time, scientists are revealing not only the history of life, but the history of the Earth itself. The theory of evolution was established by careful, diverse, and revealing tests carried out by scientists in a wide array of disciplines. Yet despite the strength of the evidence for evolution and its practical importance to society, it is unique among the great scientific theories in being under nearly constant attack.”

Proponents of religious creationism and more recently, intelligent design, object to the teaching of evolution in schools because it contradicts literal interpretation of the biblical description of Earth’s history. In the landmark Dover case, Jones ruled that that intelligent design was creationism and ordered that it not be mentioned in science class.

“Using thorough analysis of the law, in-depth analysis of the history and origin of intelligent design theory and acute powers of reasoning, Judge Jones’ opinion decisively laid to rest the notion that intelligent design should be taught in science classes, alongside evolution, as an alternative theory to the evolution of life,” Parrish said.

After the six-week trial in Harrisburg that attracted international media attention, Jones, a Republican churchgoer, ruled that the “overwhelming evidence” established that intelligent design “is a religious view, a mere relabeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory.”

GSA’s President’s Medal was established in 2007 to recognize individuals whose impact has profoundly enhanced the geosciences profession.

“Our recipient’s work qualifies as such an enhancement,” said Parrish. “By following the law separating religion and public education he, by extension, defended the study of evolution as science and the teaching of evolution.”

The five-member panel will include one of the Dover witnesses, Kevin Padian, professor of integrative biology and curator of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California—Berkeley, and president of the National Center for Science Education.

The GSA, founded in 1888 and based in Boulder, Co., is a scientific society with more than 22,000 members from academia, government, and industry in more than 95 countries. Jones participated in the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Co., June 29-July 5 for his pivotal role in the intelligent design case.

Jones, of Pottsville, was named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world in 2006. He received an honorary doctor of law and public service degree and gave the address at Dickinson’s commencement in May 2006, and he was named among the 25 most influential Dickinsonians in the Fall 2007 issue of Dickinson Magazine. He was appointed to Dickinson College’s board of trustees last year. In May, he was inducted in the Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for his achievements in the legal profession.