Simon Conway Morris facts for kids

Simon Conway Morris is a famous English scientist. He studies ancient life (a palaeontologist), how living things change over time (an evolutionary biologist), and the possibility of life in space (an astrobiologist).

He is well-known for his work on the amazing fossils of the Burgess Shale. These fossils help us understand the Cambrian explosion. This was a time when many new types of animals appeared on Earth. His discoveries were featured in the 1989 book Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould. Simon Conway Morris also wrote his own book, The Crucible of Creation (1998), which shared his views on these discoveries.

He is a Christian and believes that evolution and faith can go together. Since 1995, he has been a professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Biography

Early Life and Education

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 completed his PhD at St John's College, Cambridge. His teacher was Harry Blackmore Whittington. Today, he is a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge. He is known for his deep understanding of early evolution and ancient life.

Key Discoveries and Research

Professor Conway Morris works at the University of Cambridge. He is most famous for his research on the Cambrian explosion. This was a period about 540 million years ago when many different animal groups suddenly appeared. He has studied fossils from the Burgess Shale in Canada. He also looked at similar fossil sites in China and Greenland.

His research has taken him to Australia, Canada, Mongolia, and the United States. He has studied many different ancient creatures. These include comb jellies and the very first vertebrates (animals with backbones).

He has also explored the idea of 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 idea is very important for understanding life's history.

In 2017, his team announced the discovery of an ancient creature called Saccorhytus. They first thought it was an early ancestor of animals like us. However, later studies showed it was part of a different group of animals.

Understanding the Burgess Shale

Simon Conway Morris's ideas about the Burgess Shale are explained in many scientific papers. He also wrote about them in his book The Crucible of Creation (1998). More recently, he has focused on evolutionary convergence. His book Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (2003) discusses this topic.

He is working on a big project to study convergence. This project also includes a website, www.mapoflife.org. The website aims to show thousands of examples of convergence.

Evolution, Science, and Faith

Simon Conway Morris is very active in helping people understand science. He has appeared on radio and television many times. In 1996, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, which are famous science talks for young people.

As a Christian, he often takes part in discussions about science and religion. He argues against ideas like intelligent design. He also disagrees with the idea that everything can be explained only by physical matter.

He believes that science and faith can work together. In 2007, he gave the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh. In these talks, he explained how evolution fits with the idea of a God.

He has said that scientists who strongly argue against religion are often too confident. He believes that their explanations of life are not complete.

In March 2009, he was a main speaker at a conference in Rome. The conference was about biological evolution. He has also written articles about evolution and Christian belief for several books.

Awards and Honours

Simon Conway Morris has received many important awards for his work:

• 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 part of)