Henry Gee

Henry Gee (born 24 April 1962 in London, England) is a British paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He is a senior editor of Nature, the scientific journal.

Gee attended Sevenoaks School as a boarder. He later recalled playing a goblin and a troll in a Tolkien school drama production of The Hobbit. He then attended the Michael Hall School.

Gee earned his B.Sc. at the University of Leeds and completed his PhD at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge with a dissertation on "the evolution of bison in Britain in the Ice Age."

Gee joined Nature as a reporter in 1987 and is now Senior Editor, Biological Sciences. He has published a number of books, includingIn Search of Deep Time (1999), A Field Guide to Dinosaurs (illustrated by Luis Rey) (2003) and Jacob's Ladder (2004).

The Accidental Species, a book on human evolution, was published by the University of Chicago Press in October 2013. According to Stephen Cave, (author of Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilisation,) Gee writes, "persuasively," that "our obsession with our uniqueness is folly.... We... believe we are so exceptional... that we are the pinnacle of evolution. But this is a misunderstanding: we are just one twig in the thicket, and we could easily have never sprouted at all."

In addition to his professional activities, Gee is a blues musician and a noted Tolkienist. He was the editor of Mallorn, the journal of the Tolkien Society, for nine issues (2008–13). His SF trilogy The Sigil, previously available in draft form online, was published by ReAnimus Press in August and September 2012.

On 17 January 2014, Gee revealed the identity of pseudonymous science blogger, Dr. Isis on Twitter. Dr. Isis was an open critic of the scientific journal Nature, where Gee is a senior editor. Nature released a statement on the matter.

• 1996: Before the Backbone: Views on the Origin of the Vertebrates New York: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 0-412-48300-9. ISBN 978-0-412-48300-4.
• 1999: In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life. Sacramento: Comstock Publishing. (Note: The first chapter may be read on The New York Times website.) Hardcover: ISBN 0-684-85421-X. Paperback: ISBN 0-8014-8713-7.
• 2001: (second edition) Deep Time: Cladistics, the Revolution in Evolution. ISBN 1-85702-987-9.
• 2003: A Field Guide To Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook For Travelers In The Mesozoic. Illustrations by Luis Rey. Hauppage: Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 0-7641-5511-3.
• 2004: Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05083-1.
• 2004: The Science of Middle-Earth: Explaining The Science Behind The Greatest Fantasy Epic Ever Told! Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2004 hardcover: ISBN 1-59360-023-2. 2005 paperback: ISBN 0-285-63723-1. (Reviewed in The Guardian)
• 2008: (ed.) Futures from Nature. New York: Tor Books. ISBN 0-7653-1805-9.
• 2013: The Accidental Species: MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF HUMAN EVOLUTION Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226284880. (Reviewed in The Daily Telegraph)
• 2014: (ed. with Colin Sullivan) Nature Futures 2. New York: Tor Books. ISBN 978-1-4668-7998-0.

• Alok, Jha (19 May 2005). "The Science of Middle-earth". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2017 – via Proquest. (subscription required (help)). 
• "The Accidental Species (book review)". The Daily Telegraph. 1 December 2013 – via Proquest. (subscription required (help)).