biology

Kenneth R. Miller

Kenneth R. Miller is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kenneth R. Miller rather than just read about it. In short: Kenneth Raymond Miller (born July 14, 1948) is an American cell biologist and molecular biologist. He is a professor emeritus of biology at Brown University.

Key takeaways

Kenneth R. Miller belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kenneth R. Miller to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kenneth R. Miller from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kenneth Raymond Miller (born July 14, 1948) is an American cell biologist and molecular biologist. He is a professor emeritus of biology at Brown University. Miller's primary research focus is the structure and function of cell membranes, especially chloroplast thylakoid membranes. Miller is a co-author of a major introductory college and high school biology textbook published by Prentice Hall since 1990. Miller, who is a Catholic, is opposed to creationism, including the intelligent design (ID) movement. He has written three books on the subject: Finding Darwin's God, Only a Theory, and The Human Instinct. Miller has received the Laetare Medal at the University of Notre Dame. In 2017, he received the inaugural St. Albert Award from the Society of Catholic Scientists.

Biography Kenneth Raymond Miller was born on July 14, 1948. Miller graduated from Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey, and then received his Bachelor of Science in biology in 1970 from Brown University. He earned his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1974. From 1974 to 1980, he taught at Harvard University.

Research His research involves problems of structure and function in biological membranes, especially chloroplast thylakoid membranes, often involving electron microscopy.

Science advocacy Miller has voiced his support for "pro-science" candidates in politics. He has campaigned for school board and education candidates who support the teaching of evolution in Kansas and Ohio. In the science community, he has sought to elevate the understanding of scientists of the roots of the creationist movement, and to encourage the popularization of scientific concepts. Miller is critical of atheism for being an unscientific position. He was a spokesman for PBS's Evolution documentary. Miller has appeared in court as a witness, and on panels debating the teaching of intelligent design in schools. In 2002, the Ohio State Board of Education held a public debate between two scientists, including Miller, and two proponents of intelligent design. He testified for the plaintiffs, but only as a fact witness (not as an expert), in Selman v. Cobb County, testing the legality of stickers calling evolution a "theory, not a fact" that were placed on the biology textbook Miller authored. In 2005, the judge ruled that the stickers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This decision was vacated on appeal because of missing records of the previous trial. The case was remanded for additional evidentiary inquiry and new findings, and a list of factual issues that the court would probably want to address included as item 15 a reference to Miller's testimony regarding "the colloquial or popular understanding of the term [theory]" and the suggested question as to whether he has any qualifications to testify as an expert on the popular meaning of the word "theory". The case was remanded back to the lower court and was eventually settled out of court. Miller was also the plaintiff's lead expert witness in the 2004-2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, challenging the school board's mandate to incorporate intelligent design into the curriculum. The judge in that case also ruled decisively in favor of the plaintiffs. In 2006, he gave a lecture at Case Western Reserve University on "The Collapse of Intelligent Design". He spoke at the Skeptics Society's Origins Conference in October 2008, and at the Veritas Forum on topics such as the relationship between science and religion and the existence of God. Miller has appeared on the Comedy Central television show The Colbert Report, and has made many appearances on C-SPAN debating proponents of creationism and intelligent design. He has debated several supporters of intelligent design including biochemist Michael J. Behe. He gave a Faraday Institute lecture in April 2009 on "God, Darwin and Design" and appeared on the Today Programme arguing, "The issue of God is an issue on which reasonable people may differ, but I certainly think that it's an over-statement of our scientific knowledge and understanding to argue that science in general, or evolutionary biology in particular, proves in any way that there is no God."

Publications

General books Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (2000, Cliff Street Books ISBN 0-06-093049-7) which argues that acceptance of evolution is compatible with a belief in God. Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, (2008, Penguin Group, ISBN 978-0-670-01883-3 ) which explores Intelligent Design and the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case along with its implications on teaching science in America The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will (Simon and Schuster. 2018 ISBN 978-1476790268) which explores how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will. it was described by David DiSalvo as "an optimist's argument for a refreshed view of human evolution"

Textbooks Miller is the co-author (with Boston College neurobiologist and marine biologist Joseph Levine) of a major introductory college and high school biology textbook published by Prentice Hall since 1990. The current edition was published in 2010 by Savvas (which now owns Prentice Hall). Initially, Prentice Hall approached Joseph Levine to write the textbook after reading an article he wrote in Smithsonian magazine; Levine, who is a former student of Miller's, then recruited Miller as a co-author. Miller and Levine have also co-written a college-level textbook published by the former D.C. Heath and Company, first edition in 1991, entitled Biology: Discovering Life.

Miller, K.R. and Levine, J. (2002) Biology: The Living Science (various editions of high school textbook)

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kenneth R. Miller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kenneth R. Miller claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kenneth R. Miller before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kenneth R. Miller ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kenneth R. Miller

In research: Kenneth R. Miller appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kenneth R. Miller in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kenneth R. Miller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, 20th-century American biologists, 20th-century Roman Catholics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kenneth R. Miller outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kenneth R. Miller in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kenneth R. Miller means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kenneth R. Miller out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kenneth R. Miller in simple terms?

Kenneth Raymond Miller (born July 14, 1948) is an American cell biologist and molecular biologist. He is a professor emeritus of biology at Brown University.

Why does Kenneth R. Miller matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kenneth R. Miller?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kenneth R. Miller.