Stephen J. Gould: The Scientific Legacy

May 20th 2012 was the tenth anniversary of Stephen Jay Gould’s death.Palaeontologist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University,eminent evolutionary biologist, science writer, science historian and opinion maker, Gould gave us an extended and revised version of the theory of evolu- tion, his ‘‘Darwinian pluralism’’, which is still today an interesting frame to understand the scientific advancements in many evolutionary fields. His anticipating insights about the conjunction of evolution and development, the role of ecological and biogeographical factors in ‘‘punctuated’’ speciation, the need for a multi-level interpretation of the units of selection, the interplay between functional pressures and internal constraints in processes like exaptations and spandrels are fruitful current lines of experimental research today