{{Short description|American author}} :''See also Clifford Grey, whose real name was Percival Davis.'' {{Infobox person | name = Bill Davis | other_names = | image = | image_size = 156px | caption = | birth_name = Percival William Davis | birth_date = | birth_place = United States | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | known = | education = DePauw University (BA)<br />Columbia University (MA)<br />University of South Florida (PhD) | occupation = | title = Former professor at Hillsborough Community College<ref name="ClearwaterCV"/> | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relations = | website = | footnotes = | employer = | height = }}
'''Percival William Davis''', also known as '''Bill Davis''',<ref name="ClearwaterCV"/> is an American author, young Earth creationist, and intelligent design proponent.<ref>"Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds are well-known young earth creationists in both the CRSC and the ID movement in general, despite Dembski's public attempts to distance ID from them. And there are others: Percival Davis (co-author of ''Pandas''), Nancy Pearcey, Ray Bohlin (his evasiveness notwithstanding), Charles Thaxton..." in Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross. ''Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design''. Oxford University Press, 2004. page 275</ref>
==Education and career== Davis graduated from DePauw University with a Bachelor of Arts in zoology in 1958. He then earned a Master of Arts in zoology in 1961 from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in 1993 in instructional technology.<ref name="ClearwaterCV">{{cite news | url=http://www.clearwater.edu/academics/undergrad/faculty/WilliamDavis.asp | title=P. William Davis | publisher=Clearwater Christian College | year=2009 | accessdate=2008-04-06 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621093152/http://www.clearwater.edu/academics/undergrad/faculty/williamdavis.asp | archive-date=2009-06-21 }}</ref>
Beginning in 1968, Davis was a professor of Life Science at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida but has since retired.<ref name="ClearwaterCV" /><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2952523|title=Antievolution and Creationism in the United States|first=Eugenie C.|last=Scott|journal=Annual Review of Anthropology|date=1997|volume=26|pages=263–289|doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.263}}</ref> Since 2006, he has been a visiting professor of biology at Clearwater Christian College.<ref name="ClearwaterCV" />
==Intelligent design== The term "intelligent design" came into general usage following the publishing of the 1989 book ''Of Pandas and People'' co-authored by Davis and Dean H. Kenyon.<ref name="ReviewNCSE">{{cite news | url=http://ncse.com/rncse/20/1-2/review-pandas-people-as-textbook-supplement | title=A Review of Of Pandas and People as a Textbook Supplement |publisher=National Center for Science Education | year=2008 | first=Gary L | last=Bennett| accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref> The pair suggested that Darwinism, more than a century old, had outlived its usefulness, primarily because evolution was unable to explain all the biological complexities, which they argue show evidence of an intelligent designer. Davis additionally co-wrote ''A Case for Creation'' with Wayne Frair, published by Moody Bible Institute in 1983.
In a November 1994 ''Wall Street Journal'' front-page article concerning why he decided to co-author ''Of Pandas and People'', quoted Davis saying "Of course my motives were religious. There's no question about it."<ref>Erik Larson, "Darwinian struggle: instead of evolution, a textbook proposes "intelligent design'." ''Wall Street Journal'', 14 November 1994.</ref><ref>"About his reasons for writing 'Pandas', Davis told The Wall Street Journal in 1994: 'Of course my motives were religious. There's no question about it'."{{cite news | url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-15671237.html | title=By any other name: intelligent design and evolution |publisher=St. Louis Journalism Review | date=December 1, 2005 | accessdate = 2008-04-06}}</ref>
==Books== *Davis PW. and Frair W. ''A Case for Creation.'' 3d. rev. ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983). *Davis PW., Villee C, Solomon EP. ''Biology'' (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1985). *Davis PW. and Dean H. Kenyon. ''Of Pandas and People''. (Texas: Foundation for Thought and Ethics, 1989, 1993) {{ISBN|0-914513-40-0}} *Davis PW. and Solomon EP. ''Human Anatomy and Physiology.'' (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1983). *Davis PW. and Solomon EP. ''The World of Biology'', 3rd Ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 1986. * ''Understanding Human Anatomy and Physiology'' (McGraw-Hill)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090621093152/http://www.clearwater.edu/academics/undergrad/faculty/williamdavis.asp P. William Davis] from Clearwater Christian College
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Percival}} Category:Intelligent design advocates Category:American Christian Young Earth creationists Category:Living people Category:DePauw University alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:University of South Florida alumni Category:20th-century American writers Category:Year of birth missing (living people)