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Duane Tolbert Gish (born February 17 1921) is an American young earth creationist and biochemist who is best known as vice-president of the Institute for Creation Research.

Biography

Gish, a twin, was born in White City, Kansas, the youngest of nine children. He received a BS degree from UCLA in 1949 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1953. He is the author of several books and articles espousing the tenets of creationism.

Gish was an Assistant Research Associate at Berkeley, and an Assistant Professor at Cornell University Medical College, before joining the Upjohn Company as a Research Associate in 1960. According to Sidney W. Fox:

Duane Gish has scientific credentials. As a biochemist, he has synthesized peptides, compounds intermediate between amino acids and proteins. He has been co-author of a number of publications in peptide chemistry.

Though his detailed critiques of chemical evolution are viewed favorably among fellow creationists, they have not found acceptance within the mainstream scientific community.

Critics say that Gish has done no professional research in his field since his work at Upjohn, instead producing only creationism-related work for a popular audience.

In 1971 he joined the faculty at the newly established Christian Heritage College and its research division, which later became the Institute for Creation Research.

Debates

In his efforts to promote creation science, Gish has frequently debated prominent and well-known evolutionary scientists, with mixed results. Oponents object to the often unstructured nature of the debates, what they call a "shotgun" approach to presenting many arguments, each of which would require considerable time and information to refute, a technique which has been referred to as the "Gish gallop." Another objection from oponents is that creationists "load" the audience with supporters, leading to a tendency for the audience to have pre-conceived beliefs in favor of creationism, although Gish has also debated in front of hostile university audiences too.

At a debate at the University of Sydney with Professor Ian Plimer from the University of Newcastle in 1985, Plimer claimed victory. The debate is famous for Plimer's obtaining of a live electrical current and requesting Gish argue that the theory of electromagnetism is not a scientific truth. Gish attempted to deflect the argument by contrasting the testability of electricity with the untestability of evolution.

Gish publicly stated he would never debate Professor Plimer again because of Plimer's concentration on abusive ad hominem arguments.

Bibliography

Selected books by Gish

• Duane Gish, Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics, 1993, ISBN 0-932766-28-5
• Duane Gish, Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No!, 1985, ISBN 0-890511-12-8

External links

Anti-Gish links

• Creationism: Bad Science or Immoral Pseudoscience?, by Joyce Arthur (atheistic abortion activist), Skeptic, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1996, pp. 88–93.
• Fossil Hominids: The Evidence for Human Evolution, Jim Foley, talk.origins FAQ. This site contains many references to Gish's work, including a section on "Comparison of creationist opinions" that compares side-by-side Gish's classification of various fossils as ape or human with the classifications of other creationists.
• Duane Gish and Wadjak Man, Jim Foley, talk.origins FAQ. This examines Gish's claims about Wadjak Man.
• Duane Gish and Creationism, Rich Trott, talk.origins FAQ. This critiques Gish's presentation at Rutgers University and includes Gish's rebuttal.
• Scientific Creationism and Error, Robert Schadewald, talk.origins FAQ, originally published in the Creation/Evolution journal, v. 6 n. 1, pp. 1-9. This describes Gish's famous "bullfrog protein" claim.
• A Creationist Exposed, Chris Stassen, talk.origins FAQ. This critiques Gish's "Have You Been Brainwashed?" pamphlet, which was an issue in Gish's debate with Ian Plimer.
• How Not to Argue with Creationists, Jim Lippard, originally published in the Creation/Evolution journal, vol. 11, no. 2, Winter 1991-1992, pp. 9-21. This article criticizes Ian Plimer's performance in his debate with Duane Gish.
• How Not to Respond to Criticism, Jim Lippard, talk.origins FAQ. A follow-up to "How Not to Argue with Creationists."

Pro-Gish links

• Gish's response to the Arthur article above
• Who wins the Debates?
• Duane Gish biography
• Debates Generate Vigorouse Response

Notes

1. Sidney W. Fox, The Emergence of Life: Darwinian Evolution from the Inside (NY: Basic Books, 1988), p. 46.

• 1921 births
• American biochemists
• Christian leaders
• Christian ministers
• Christian writers
• Creationists
• Young Earth creationism