In 1990, the Institute was founded as a non-profit educational foundation and think tank. It was originally founded as a branch of the Hudson Institute, an Indianapolis-based conservative think tank, and is named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Discovery in which George Vancouver explored Puget Sound in 1792.
Discovery Institute Press
Discovery Institute Press is the Institute's publishing arm and has published intelligent design books by its fellows including David Berlinski's Deniable Darwin & Other Essays, Jonathan Wells' The Myth of Junk DNA and an edited volume titled Signature Of Controversy, which contains apologetic works in defense of the Institute's Center for Science and Culture director Stephen C. Meyer.
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, formally registered as PSSI International Inc, is a United States 501 nonprofit anti-evolution organization promoting the pseudoscience of intelligent design associated with the Discovery Institute, based in Clearwater, Florida. While in the past, the organization sponsored events promoting intelligent design and fundamentalist Christianity, it is currently largely inactive. The PSSI was established in early 2006 by Rich Akin. Geoffrey Simmons, Discovery Institute fellow, is one of the Directors of the PSSI. The PSSI created a public list of medical professionals who dissent from Darwinism. This list is used by the Discovery Institute in its anti-evolution campaigns. The list is used in support of the Discovery Institute claims that intelligent design is scientifically valid while asserting that evolution lacks broad scientific support. The PSSI, which was active between 2006 - 2008, held a "Doctors Doubting Darwin" rally at the University of South Florida's Sun Domein September 2006. Attendance was estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 people by a local reporter. Apologetic organizations promoting the event had hoped to fill all 7,700 seats in the Sun Dome. This meeting featured the Discovery Institute's Jonathan Wells and fellow Michael Behe, and received local radio coverage. This rally was opposed by the Florida Citizens for Science organization.
"Teach the Controversy"
"Teach the Controversy" is a campaign conducted by the Discovery Institute to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit the teaching of evolution in United States public high school science courses. The scientific community and science education organizations have replied that there is no scientific controversy regarding the validity of evolution and that the controversy exists solely in terms of religion and politics. A federal court, along with the majority of scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, say the Institute has manufactured the controversy they want to teach by promoting a "false perception" that evolution is "a theory in crisis" by falsely claiming it is the subject of wide controversy and debate within the scientific community. In the December 2005 ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Judge John E. Jones III concluded that intelligent design is not science and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents".
Center for Science and Culture, formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, is part of the Discovery Institute. It publishes the blog Evolution News & Science Today, that promotes "a rigorously God-centered view of creation, including a new 'science' based solidly on theism."
