Fossil Hominids kudos; recognition of an amateur

Congratulations to Jim Foley, an amateur enthusiast on paleoanthropology and also the evolution/creationism debate.In "NetWatch" (edited by Mitch Leslie), in Science magazine Volume 304, Number 5671, Issue of 30 April 2004: This is available at Science on-line (This is the default server vhost).To really appreciate what a remarkable coup this is, bear in mind that Science magazine is one of the most widely known international science journals, and that Jim picked up all his phenomenol depth of knowledge just by his own reading and interest. I've met Jim, and he is quite a guy.Well done mate. -- Sylas

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And a hip, hip, hooray from me as well. Jim Foley should be proud of his accomplishment. Being published or even mentioned in Science is every researchers dream. Even bigger kudos for being an amateur. This goes to show that people do not need a college education to understand biology, just a passion for the subject. That he was able to pull together material from several sources and put them together into an accurate, cohesive package is a talent that not all of us have. Congrats.PS. Someone should drop Jim an email and let him know we are keeping track of his accomplishments.This message has been edited by Loudmouth, 05-06-2004 11:22 AM

and the kind of thing that if you do once in a lifetime, is more than many of us ever achieve.Thanks for the link.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Indeed... although it should be mentioned that the "NetWatch" column is not quite in the same league as actually having your research published in the journal.But it is impressive... and it is the second time for Jim.In Science, Vol 282, Issue 5393, page 1379, 20 November 1998; Jim's FAQ got a brief mention, though not quite in the same comprehensive and glowing terms as the latest reference.The talkorigins archive has set up a page for the various awards that it has accumulated, and the references that have been made in different publications. It is indicative of the quality of Jim's work on the Fossil Hominids that the awards page has a special subsection for the awards and mentions given for Jim's pages, rather than for the entire archive.This latest accolade, however, has to stand out as one of the most impressive.The general awards page also links to a couple of science textbooks that direct readers to the archive, and to a simply enormous number of university level courses which have the archive as an officially recognized resource for their students.It takes time to build up the level of expertise that Jim has accumulated, despite his amateur status; but not a prohibitive amount of time. Jim shows what can be achieved with passion and enthusiasm for a subject.Cheers -- Sylas