James L. Gould

James Leroy Gould ( born July 31, 1945) is an American ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author of popular science works.

Gould studied at the California Institute of Technology, where he obtained in 1970 a Bachelor of Science. During the study it had been in 1967 drafted into the U.S. Army Signal Corps and stationed in Germany until 1968. There, he read King Solomon's Ring (German: He was talking to the livestock, the birds and the fishes, 1949) by Konrad Lorenz what his future scientific career influenced. After his return to the university Seymour Benzer was able to inspire him for the behavioral sciences. He continued his studies at the Rockefeller University, where he was 1975 Ph.D. doctorate. His dissertation was titled Honey bee communication: the dance -language controversy. Since then, he was a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. However, he was known for an experiment that he carried out during his studies at the California Institute of Technology, and for which he was awarded the 1970 Green Award Memorial Research Award from the university. So that he could prove notify the bees on the dance their own kind, where food can be found. In addition to several textbooks Gould published together with his wife the book The Honey Bee (German: The honey bee ).