Michael Behe
Michael Joseph Behe (/ˈbiːhiː/ BEE-hee; born January 18, 1952) is an American biochemist and an advocate of the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (ID).
Michael Behe | |
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Behe in Mary 2008 | |
| Born | Michael Joseph Behe January 18, 1952 Altoona, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Drexel University (BS) University of Pennsylvania (PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, Lehigh University |
| Known for | Irreducible complexity |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | Lehigh University Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture |
| Thesis | Investigation of some physical chemical factors affecting the gelation of sickle cell hemoglobin (1978) |
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| Intelligent design |
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He serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and as a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Behe advocates for the validity of the argument for irreducible complexity (IC), which claims that some biochemical structures are too complex to be explained by known evolutionary mechanisms and are therefore probably the result of intelligent design. Behe has testified in several court cases related to intelligent design, including the court case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District where his views were cited in the ruling that intelligent design is not science and is religious in nature.
Behe's claims about the irreducible complexity of essential cellular structures have been rejected by the vast majority of the scientific community, and his own biology department at Lehigh University published a statement repudiating Behe's views and intelligent design.