Editing Project Steve (section)

== History ==
The project was named in honor of the [[palaeontology|paleontologist]] and essayist [[Stephen Jay Gould]] (1941–2002). It began in 2003, with an official press release on February 16, 2003.<ref>[http://ncse.com/taking-action/project-steve-press-release ''TEACH EVOLUTION! Over two hundred scientists named Steve agree''], [[National Center for Science Education]] [[press release]], February 16, 2003.</ref> The press release was issued at the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]'s 2003 convention in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], after a lecture by [[Lawrence Krauss]] titled "Scientific Ignorance as a Way of Life: From Science Fiction in Washington to Intelligent Design in the Classroom." Krauss made the actual announcement and directed the reporters to NCSE Director [[Eugenie Scott]], who was sitting in the audience in the front row.<ref name=Geo/>

{{multiple image
 | width = 180
 | footer = [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureates Steven Weinberg (left) and Steven Chu (right) were among the first 100 signatures.
 | image1 = Steven weinberg 2010.jpg
 | image2 = Steven Chu official DOE portrait.jpg
}}

The original goal was to collect the signatures of 100 Steves, but this goal was reached in about 10 days. Both [[Nobel Prize]]-winning Steves in science — [[Steven Weinberg]] and [[Steven Chu]] (who has since served as [[United States Secretary of Energy|Secretary of Energy]] in [[Barack Obama]]'s [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]]) — were among the first 100 Steves. Over 200 Steves responded in the first month.<ref name=Geo>[http://www.geotimes.org/may03/column.html ''All About Steve (and Darwin)''], [[Glenn Branch]] and Skip Evans, Geologic Column, [http://www.geotimes.org/current/ Geotimes], May 2003.</ref> As the news of Project Steve spread by [[word of mouth]], ever-increasing numbers of Steves contacted the NCSE, and the list continued to grow.

Project Steve captured the attention of the media. The first media coverage included articles in the ''[[Washington Times]]'', ''[[Science (magazine)|Science]]'', the ''[[Oakland Tribune]]'' and an interview of NCSE director [[Eugenie Scott]] by [[Australians|Australian]] science journalist and radio broadcaster [[Robyn Williams]] for the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]’s radio show, ''The Science Show''. ''The Science Show'' arranged for Geoff Sirmai and David Fisher of the [[Australia|Australian]] musical comedy team "Comic Roasts" to write the "''Steve Song''", a parody of the [[Spam_(Monty_Python_sketch)|Monty Python song about Spam]], for Project Steve.<ref name=FAQs/><ref>[http://www.ncse.com/files/pub/action/stevesong.wma Steve Song] [[wma audio file]], [[National Center for Science Education]] website</ref> The song had its debut on ''The Science Show'' episode featuring the interview of Scott which aired on [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] Radio National on March 8, 2003.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s798387.htm ''The Steve Project''], [[radio show]] transcript, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/default.htm The Science Show], [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], March 8, 2003.</ref>

[[Cambridge University]] [[Lucasian Professor of Mathematics]] [[Stephen Hawking]] was the 300th Steve to sign the list. By the time the announcement was made on April 21, 2003, another five had joined to bring the total number of Steves to 305.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2003/04/hawking-is-steve-300-00459 ''Hawking is Steve #300''], [[National Center for Science Education]], April 21, 2003.</ref> By December 26, 2003, [[Saint Stephen's Day]], ''Project Steve'' had grown to 400 scientists.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2003/12/project-steve-update-00463  ''Project Steve Update''], [[National Center for Science Education]], December 26, 2003.</ref>

As Project Steve reached the 400 scientist mark, the NCSE decided to offer a commemorative novelty Project Steve [[t-shirt]]. The t-shirt is emblazoned with the proclamation, "Over _00 Scientists named Steve Agree, Teach Evolution!" in large letters, where the blank contains the most recent hundreds mark. A list of the current signatories is included in a smaller typeface on the t-shirt as well.

[[Eugenie Scott]], [[Glenn Branch]] and [[Nick Matzke]] published an article in the July/August 2004 issue of the ''[[Annals of Improbable Research]]'' (with all the Steves that had signed up to that point listed as co-authors) called ''The Morphology of Steve'' which contained "the first scientific analysis of the sex, geographic location, and body size of scientists named Steve".<ref>{{cite journal
 | author = Eugenie C. Scott
 | author-link = Eugenie C. Scott
 | author2 = Nick Matzke
 | author2-link = Nick Matzke
 | author3 = Glenn Branch
 | author3-link = Glenn Branch| year = 2004
 | title = The Morphology of Steve
 | journal = [[Annals of Improbable Research]]
 | volume = 10
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 24–29
 | doi = 10.3142/107951404781540554
 | s2cid = 60656868
 | url = http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume10/v10i4/morph-steve-10-4.pdf
 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>  The data were obtained using NCSE's "pioneering experimental steveometry apparatus"—the [[t-shirt]].

Shortly after the second anniversary of Project Steve in February 2005, 543 Steves had signed the list. A front-page story in the [[Ottawa Citizen]] marking this event was published on February 20, 2005.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2005/02/project-steve-ottawa-00778 ''Project Steve in Ottawa''], [[National Center for Science Education]], February 24, 2005.</ref> On September 12, 2005, the 600th Steve signed the list.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2005/09/project-steve-n-600-00766 ''Project Steve: n > 600''], [[National Center for Science Education]], September 16, 2005</ref> By February 16, 2006, the third anniversary of ''Project Steve'''s official launch, the Steve-o-meter stood at 700.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2006/02/announcing-ncse-700-club-001003 ''Announcing the NCSE 700 Club''], [[National Center for Science Education]], February 16, 2006.</ref> On April 24, 2007, the list had grown to 800 Steves.<ref>[http://ncse.com/news/2007/04/project-steve-n-800-001158 ''Project Steve: n > 800''], [[National Center for Science Education]], April 26, 2007.</ref> In February 2009, the milestone #1000 was assigned to professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Steven P. Darwin (no relation to [[Charles Darwin|Charles]]).<ref name=PS1000>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/news/2009/02/steve-darwin-is-steve-1000-004308 |title=Steve Darwin is Steve #1000 |publisher=NCSE |date=2009-02-14 |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>  Subsequent milestones were #1100 on August 25, 2009,<ref name=PS1100>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/news/2009/08/project-steve-n-1100-005014 |title=Project Steve: n > 1100 |publisher=NCSE |date=2009-08-26 |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref> #1200 on April 6, 2012,<ref name=PS1200>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/news/2012/04/project-steve-n-1200-007293 |title=Project Steve: n > 1200 |publisher=NCSE |date=2012-04-06 |access-date=2012-04-06}}</ref> and #1300 on January 15, 2014.<ref name=PS1300>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/news/2014/01/project-steve-n-1300-0015306 |title=Project Steve: n > 1300 |publisher=NCSE |date=2014-01-17 |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>

There have been articles about ''Project Steve'' in ''[[The Times]]'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Sign here if your name is steve. |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/world-in-brief-9nkvnk2v67l |access-date=24 January 2019 |work=[[The Times]] |date=18 February 2003}}</ref> ''[[Scientific American]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/count-on-steves-to-defend-darwin-09-02-20/#|title=Count On Steves to Defend Darwin|date=February 20, 2009|website=Scientific American|access-date=February 20, 2017}}</ref> ''[[Yale Daily News]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2003/02/25/steve-profs-collaborate-to-support-teaching-evolution/|title='Steve' profs. collaborate to support teaching evolution|last=Tom|first=Jessica|date=February 25, 2003|website=Yale Daily News|access-date=February 20, 2017}}</ref> [[Focus on the Family]]'s ''Family News in Focus'', ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[MIT]]'s ''TechTalk'', and ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'', among many others.<ref>[http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3563_project_steve_in_the_media_2_17_2003.asp Project Steve in the media] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511165235/http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3563_project_steve_in_the_media_2_17_2003.asp |date=2008-05-11 }}, [[National Center for Science Education]], Last updated February 26, 2004, ''retrieved September 11, 2007''.</ref>

=== Evolution ===
[[File:Evoluiton steve.jpg|thumb|upright=3|center|Evolution of the number of Steves within Project Steve since its creation]]