Professor John Stephen Jones
- Born
- 24 March 1944
Steve Jones is a respected expert on evolution and an emeritus professor of genetics at University College London.
Jones secured himself a place studying zoology at the University of Edinburgh. It was here that his interest in genetics and snails was born. He has said that, “You are given an essay to write in your first or second year at University and you never finish it, and I am still writing that essay 25 years later on the genetics of snails.”
After his graduation in 1966, Jones stayed at Edinburgh for a PhD on the ecological genetics of Cepaea, a medium-sized land snail. This was followed by a spell at the University of Chicago where he studied the genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila.
As well as snails and flies, Professor Jones is also interested in human evolution. It was on this topic he spoke passionately about during the Reith lectures in 1991. His lectures, titled The Language of Genes, informed us that most of the world is descended from just 10 Africans and made us marvel at human genetic uniqueness.
From this point onwards, Jones was not just a respected academic; he was also a bright star in broadcasting. He wrote a number of best-selling popular science books, winning the Natural World Book Prize in 1999 for Almost like a whale and the Institute of Biology (now the Society of Biology) Charter Medal in 2002. In 2009, he received the Zoological Society of London award for Communicating Zoology based on his book, Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise.
Professor Jones has regularly appeared on television and radio, and also writes a regular science column in The Daily Telegraph, View from the Lab. His brilliance in communicating science to the public won him the Royal Society Michael Faraday award in 1996.
In the Desert Island Discs interview with Sue Lawley, Steve Jones stated that “In the case of science, people are often most confident about what they say when they know least.” Professor Jones is unafraid to say that he doesn’t know something. He is also unafraid to get close to his audience and has spoken to over 100 000 school children. Something that must require courage! Professor Steve Jones continues to engage and educate the public about the complex, and sometimes controversial, subject of genetics and evolution. With free public lectures scheduled at the Museum of London in 2015, why not pop along and be surprised.