Simon Conway Morris facts for kids

Simon Conway Morris is an English scientist born in 1951. He is a palaeontologist, which means he studies fossils to learn about ancient life. He is also an evolutionary biologist, studying how living things change over time. Plus, he's an astrobiologist, looking for life beyond Earth.

He is famous for his work on the amazing fossils of the Burgess Shale. These fossils help us understand the Cambrian explosion, a time when many new types of animals appeared on Earth. His discoveries were even featured in a book called Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould. Simon Conway Morris also wrote his own book, The Crucible of Creation, about these fossils.

Simon Conway Morris is a Christian and believes that evolution and faith can go together. Since 1995, he has been a professor at the University of Cambridge, where he studies how life evolved.

Who is Simon Conway Morris?

Simon Conway Morris was born on November 6, 1951, in Carshalton, England. He grew up in London. He studied geology at University of Bristol and earned a top degree.

Later, he went to University of Cambridge and got his PhD. His teacher was Harry Blackmore Whittington. Today, he is a professor at Cambridge, focusing on how early life evolved. He is known for his deep understanding of ancient life forms.

In 1996, he gave a special talk called the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture. It was all about "The History in our Bones." He became a member of the Royal Society when he was 39. He has also won important awards like the Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal and the Lyell Medal.

Studying Ancient Life

Simon Conway Morris works at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his research on the Cambrian explosion. This was a time about 540 million years ago when many different animal groups suddenly appeared. He studies fossils from the Burgess Shale in Canada and similar places in China and Greenland.

He has also done research in Australia, Canada, Mongolia, and the United States. His studies cover many types of early animals. These include ctenophores (comb jellies) and the very first vertebrates (animals with backbones).

His ideas about the Burgess Shale have changed over time. Now, he is very interested in evolutionary convergence. This is when different species develop similar features independently. For example, both birds and bats have wings, but they evolved separately. He believes this shows that evolution often leads to similar solutions.

In 2017, his team found a new fossil called Saccorhytus. They first thought it was an early ancestor of animals like us (vertebrates). But later studies showed it was actually part of a different group of animals called protostomes.

The Burgess Shale Discoveries

Simon Conway Morris has written many scientific papers about his views on the Burgess Shale. He also shared his ideas in his book, The Crucible of Creation (1998). In recent years, he has been studying evolutionary convergence. He wrote about this in his book, Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (2003).

He is now working on a big project to explore convergence even more. He is also helping to create a website, www.mapoflife.org. This website aims to show thousands of examples of convergence in an easy-to-understand way.

Science and Belief

Simon Conway Morris often helps people understand science better. He has appeared on radio and TV shows, including the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1996. He is a Christian and takes part in discussions about science and religion. He argues that evolution can fit with a belief in God.

He has spoken at places like the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. In 2007, he gave the University of Edinburgh Gifford Lectures. These talks were called "Darwin's Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation." In them, he explained why he believes evolution and faith can work together.

He also believes that science alone cannot explain everything. He thinks that scientists who strongly argue against religion might be missing part of the picture. In 2009, he spoke at a conference in Rome about biological evolution. He has also written articles about evolution and Christian belief for different books.

Awards and Honours

• The Walcott Medal (1987)
• PS Charles Schuchert Award (1989)
• GSL Charles Lyell Medal (1998)
• Trotter Prize (2007)

See also

• Extraterrestrial (TV program) (a TV show he was in)