What We’re Up Against: Ignoble Ignorance

Writing for the Discovery Institute’s blog on December 4, 2024, Robert F. Shedinger — a professor of religion at Luther College — posed the question, “And if evolutionary theory is so fundamental to medical research, why has no evolutionary biologist ever won a Noble [sic] Prize in physiology and medicine?” Well, in 2005, the scientist James McCarter reported, “Reviewing the last 50 years of Nobel Prizes in medicine or physiology, I asked, ‘Is training in evolutionary biology necessary for a thorough understanding of the award-winning discoveries and work resulting from each breakthrough?’ By my criteria, understanding of evolution is necessary in 47 of 50 cases. From vaccines, viral cancer genes, and nerve cell communication to drug trials, and genes controlling cholesterol and heart disease, evolutionary insights are crucial.” But just to rub it in, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for 2022 was the evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo.