Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe
Page 28
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ALSO BY MARIO LIVIO
Is God a Mathematician?
The Equation That Couldn’t Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World’s Most Astonishing Number
The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos
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NOTES
Chapter 1: Mistakes and Blunders
world championship match: A detailed description can be found in Evans and Smith (1973). A brief summary is online at www.mark-weeks.com/chess/72fs$$.htm.
Ray Krone of Phoenix: A description of this sad case can be found online, eg, at www.innocence project.org/Content/Ray_Krone.php.
The British historian A. J. P. Taylor: Alan John Percival Taylor (1906–90). Taylor 1963.
President Woodrow Wilson: Wilson 1913.
Chapter 2: The Origin
On November 29, 1975: The record is apparently held by the vulture known as Rüppell’s Griffon (Gyps rueppellii); see www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1976/how-high-can-birds-and-bees-fly.
record-setting explorer Jacques Piccard: See, eg, “Jacques Piccard,” Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2004. Online at www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404707243.html.
A recent catalogue: Chapman 2009.
The most recent study predicts: Mora et al. 2011.
one tablespoon of dirt: Gans et al. 2005.
The ocellaris clown fish: Scientifically, Amphiprion ocellaris.
According to Greek philosopher Aristotle: Aristotle fourth century BCE.
A similar description appears: Pliny the Elder first century CE. Can be downloaded from www.perseus.tufts.edu.
The famous Roman orator: Cicero 45 BCE.
precisely the line of reasoning adopted by Paley: Paley 1802. William Paley (1743–1805) published an influential book entitled Natural Theology, in which he contrasted a natural rock with a watch. Ironically, through radiometric dating (see chapter 5), rocks can determine the age of the Earth—a much longer time interval than that ever measured by any watchmaker’s clock.
The first edition of Darwin’s book: There are, of course, numerous printings of The Origin. Two that I found particularly attractive are The Annotated Origin, annotated by James T. Costa (Darwin 2009), and one reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by Ernst Mayr (Darwin 1964).
“In the distant future I see”: Darwin 2009 [1859], p. 488. Darwin himself followed up on his own prediction in The Descent of Man, published in 1871, and in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published the following year. Current developments in evolutionary psychology can be seen as descendants of these pioneering efforts.
“We thus learn that man”: Darwin 1981 [1871]. A dozen years following The Origin, Darwin became confident enough to broaden his theory of evolution to include humans—an issue he tried to skirt in The Origin. There is very little doubt that the outcry against Darwinism would have been much less pronounced had evolution not applied to humans. Darwin’s ideas in The Descent have inspired tireless efforts by many members of the Louis Leakey family to search for and find fossil hominids in Africa.
Darwin’s theory consists of four main pillars: There are many excellent books on evolution and natural selection, at various levels. Here are just a few that I found very helpful: Ridley 2004a is a first-class textbook. Ridley 2004b is a wonderful anthology of high-level articles, as are Hodge and Radick 2009 (on Darwin), and Ruse and Richards 2009 (on The Origin). A thought-provoking philosophical approach is Dennett 1995. An excellent review of the history of evolutionary theory is Depew and Weber 1995. Wilson 1992 is a sweeping review of biodiversity. Dawkins 1986, 2009, Carroll 2009, and Coyne 2009 are superb popular books. Pallen 2009 is a brief and extremely accessible introduction. A few very useful websites on evolution are www.evolution.berkeley.edu; www.pbs.org/evolution; and www.nationalacademies.org.evolution.
Darwin’s ideas on evolution had an older: A landmark work on the history and origins of the theory of evolution is Gould 2002. Another high-level historical review is Bowler 2009.
distinguish between microevolution: Resistances to antibiotics and to pesticides, which develop within a few years, are examples of microevolution. The origin of mammals from reptiles is an example of macroevolution. An excellent summary of macroevolution is Carroll, Grenier, and Weatherbee 2001.
“Nothing in Biology Makes Sense”: Dobzhansky 1973.
modern theory of uniformitarianism: Charles Lyell (1797–1875) largely expanded on the concept that geological changes are the result of the continuous accumulation of tiny transformations over immeasurably long periods of time, in his influential book Principles of Geology. Lyell 1830–33.
Some “living fossils” such as the lamprey: Classified as Priscomyzon riniensis. Gess et al. 2006.
the concept of a common ancestor: This pillar of Darwinian evolution has been confirmed by many spectacular findings. For instance, the discoveries of fossils of feathered dinosaurs, such as the Microraptor gui and the Mei long, are consistent with the idea that birds evolved from reptiles.
Darwin’s solution to the diversity problem: Good descriptions of speciation are Schilthuizen 2001, and Coyne and Orr 2004.
the “tree of life”: An interesting discussion on the tree of life can be found in Dennett 1995.
the case of the Italian sparrow: Elgvin et al. 2011.
author Vladimir Nabokov: The study that confirmed Nabokov’s speculation is Vila et al. 2011.
phylogenetic tree for all the families: In an impressive study, Meredith et al. 2011 used twenty-six genes to construct the phylogeny of mammalian families and to estimate divergence times.
The Accelerating Universe: Livio 2000.
I mean reductionism: This often-abused term is sometimes used incorrectly to imply that one can ignore complexities and completely reduce one discipline into another. No one should attempt to understand Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” from the perspective of the laws of physics. A good discussion of reductionism in the sense that I am using it here can be found in Weinberg 1992.
the British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane is cited: Eg, Hutchinson 1959.
a fresh water ameboid: Given that the genome determination was done with earlier methods, it may be somewhat uncertain; McGrath and Katz 2004.
The basic idea underlying natural selection: A comprehensive book is Bell 2008. See also Endler 1986.
In a letter to Darwin: Darwin and Seward 1903.
Here is how Darwin himself: Darwin 1964 [1859], p. 61.
by the term of Natural Selection: A highly accessible description of natural selection can be found in Mayr 2001. A textbook on selection is Bell 2008. Endler 1986 presents much of the evidence for natural selection.
Wallace wrote to Darwin: Marchant 1916, p. 171.
philosophical radicals such as the political economist Thomas Malthus: Malthus argued in his An Essay on the Principle of Population (published in 1798) that humans produce too many offspring and that, consequently, if unchecked, famine and “premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.” Malthus’s ideas influenced not just Darwin and Wallace but also economic and political philosophy.
Darwin himself wrote to the geologist: The geologist Frederick Wolaston Hutton (1836–1905) reviewed The Origin for the Geologist.
no fewer than a half million patients: Bowersox 1999.
the evolution of the peppered moth: The British geneticist Bernard Kettlewell (1907–79) conducted much research on the peppered moth and industrial melanism. His findings have been questioned by some (eg, Wells 200
0; Hooper 2003), and supported by others (eg, Majerus 1998). A popular-science summary of the debate is de Roode 2007.
the famous philosopher of science: Popper 1976, p. 151.
did recognize his error: Popper 1978; also Miller 1985.
termed by modern evolutionary biologists genetic drift: There exists vast literature on genetic drift. An online lecture by Stephen Stearns can be found at www.cosmolearning.com/video-lectures/neutral-evolution-genetic-drift-66 87. Other easy-to-access online resources include Kliman et al. 2008, and www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbhdjm/courses/b242/InbrDrift/InbrDrift.html. A comprehensive textbook on population genetics is Hartl and Clark 2006.
Ellis-van Creveld syndrome: This is a manifestation in the Amish community of what is known as the “founder effect.” When a population is reduced to a very small size because of some environmental changes or because of migration, the genes of the “founders” of the resulting population are represented disproportionately.
suffragist and botanist Lydia Becker: Lydia Ernestine Becker (1827–90) published the Women’s Suffrage Journal between 1870 and 1890. The citation on Darwin is from her address, as president of the Manchester Ladies’ Literary Society, on January 30, 1867. It was published in Becker 1869. It is also described in Blackburn 1902, part 2.
Chapter 3: Yea, All Which It Inherit, Shall Dissolve
confessed candidly in The Origin: Darwin 2009, p. 13.
In this “paint-pot theory”: This phrase was first used by Hardin 1959, p. 107.
“After twelve generations”: Darwin 2009, p. 160.
Jenkin was a multitalented individual: Brownlie and Lloyd Prichard 1963.
Fleeming Jenkin published his criticism: Jenkin 1867. The article is reproduced in Hull 1973, p. 303, and can also be found online at www.victorianweb.org/science/science_texts/jenkins.html.
Jenkin’s approach was quantitative: Excellent discussions of Jenkin’s arguments can be found in Bulmer 2004, Vorzimmer 1963, and Hull 1973.
only Arthur Sladen Davis: Davis 1871.
The modern theory of genetics: An engaging description of Mendel and his work can be found in Mawer 2006.
A simple example will help to clarify: The description here is largely a simplified version of the explanation in Ridley 2004a, pp. 35–39.
it needed Mendelian heredity: First explained in detail in Fisher 1930.
In his autobiography, he acknowledged: Darwin 1958 [1892], p. 18. A more detailed analysis of Darwin’s numerical attempts can be found in Parshall 1982.
“I was blind and thought that single”: Letter to Wallace on February 2, 1869, in Marchant 1916, vol. 1. Also in Darwin 1887, vol. 2, p. 288.
“If in any country or district”: Darwin 1909 [1842], p. 3.
In reality, Darwin even relied: Hodge 1987.
“When a character which has been lost”: Darwin 2009 [1859], p. 160.
This notion of some latent “tendency”: Darwin returned to this notion of a latent tendency in a letter he wrote to Wallace on September 23, 1868 (Darwin and Seward 1903, vol. 2, p. 84). Darwin wrote: “I think impossible to see how, for instance, a few red feathers appearing on the head of a male bird, and which are at first transmitted to both sexes, would come to be transmitted to males alone. It is not enough that females should be produced from the males with red feathers, which should be destitute of red feathers; but these females must have a latent tendency to produce such feathers, otherwise they would cause deterioration in the red head-feathers of their male offspring.”
In a letter to Wallace on January 22: Darwin was working on the fifth edition of The Origin; in F. Darwin 1887, vol. 3, p. 107. See also Bulmer 2004, Morris 1994.
“I saw, also, that the preservation”: Peckham 1959, p. 178.
of which two survive to reproduce: Peckham 1959, p. 178.
“Approaching the subject [of evolution]”: The precise date of this letter is not known, but because it was sent from Moor Park, it had to be before November 12, 1857. In Darwin and Seward 1903, vol. 1, p. 102.
he wrote in his book The Variation: Darwin 1868, vol. 2, p. 374.
First, in a letter written on January 22: Marchant 1916, vol. 1, p. 166.
Wallace replied on February 4: Marchant 1916, vol. 1, p. 168.
Darwin was quick to correct Wallace: Letter dated “Tuesday, February, 1866.” Marchant 1916, vol. 1, p. 159.
Darwin points out the obvious fact: The exchange between Darwin and Wallace and its significance is also discussed beautifully in Dawkins 2009.
Gregor Mendel read the seminal paper: In addition to Mawer 2006, Orel 1996 gives a detailed account of Mendel’s life and work. See also Brannigan 1981.
no fewer than three books: Kitcher 1982, p. 9; Rose 1998, p. 33; Henig 2000, p. 143–44.
and a fourth book: Dover 2000, p. 11.
Andrew Sclater of the Darwin Correspondence: Sclater 2003. See also Keynes 2002.
In contrast to Darwin’s total lack: An excellent description of the influences (or lack thereof) between Darwin and Mendel is de Beer 1964.
“If the change in the conditions”: Mendel 1866 [1865], p. 36 (cited in de Beer 1964).
“No case is on record”: Darwin 1964 [1859], p. 7; or Darwin 2009, p. 8.
“If it be accepted that”: Mendel 1866, p. 39 (cited in de Beer 1964).
Although the Vatican itself: For a discussion of the early Vatican responses to evolution, see Harrison 2001.
the illusion of confidence: The effect was demonstrated by Kruger and Dunning 1999. A popular description can be found in Chabris and Simons 2010.
Chapter 4: How Old Is the Earth?
the Hindu sages of antiquity: The ancient Hindus believed that a single cycle of destruction and renewal lasted 4.32 million years (eg, Holmes 1947, p. 99–108).
In one of the earliest estimates: Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 115–180 CE) was converted to Christianity as an adult. Only one of his writings has survived, in an eleventh-century manuscript, quoted in Haber 1959, p. 17, and in Dalrymple 1991, p. 19.
among these biblical scholars were John Lightfoot: Ussher (1581–1656) calculated that Creation occurred in the year 710 of the Julian period; Brice 1982.
added as a marginal note to the English: The note was removed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Kirkaldy 1971, p. 5.
“The knowledge of . . . nearly everything”: Spinoza 1925, vol. 3, p. 98.
“It would be a mark of great”: Philo, first century, book I.
He pointed out in 1754: Kant 1754. An English translation appears in Reinhardt and Oldroyd 1982.
Referring to a sarcastic passage: The reference is to Fontenelle’s A Plurality of Worlds.
Benoît de Maillet carried out: An English translation of de Maillet’s 1748 book is Carozzi 1969.
“Why the bones of great”: MacCurdy 1939, p. 342.
De Maillet humbly dedicated: de Maillet 1748; Cyrano de Bergerac was the author of the imaginative two-volume Travels to the Moon and the Sun.
“a globe of red hot iron”: Newton 1687; see the English translation by Motte 1848, p. 486.
Buffon assumed that the Earth started: The twentieth volume in Buffon’s Natural History: General and Particular was entitled Epochs of Nature. In it, he divided the history of the Earth into seven epochs, and he attempted to estimate the length in time of each. A good description can be found in Haber 1959, p. 118.
“no vestige of a beginning”: Hutton 1788.
“how fatal the suspicion”: Richard Kirwan was president of the Royal Irish Academy. He wrote a series of articles and a book in support of the biblical description and against Hutton. The quote here is from Kirwan 1797.
with the publication of Charles Lyell’s: Lyell 1830–33.
published a eulogy of Lord Kelvin: There are quite a few detailed biographies of Lord Kelvin. The ones I found most illuminating are Gray 1908, Thompson 1910 (reprinted in 1976), Smith and Wise 1989, Lindley 2004, and Sharlin and Sharlin 1979. Wilson 1987 describes side by side the physics of Kelvin
with that of Victorian physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes (Stokes lived 1819–1903, Kelvin 1824–1907). Burchfield 1990 concentrates on Kelvin’s work on the problem of the age of the Earth.
“after making himself Second Wrangler”: The “Senior Wrangler” was the undergraduate student who received the highest grades in the mathematical honors examinations at Cambridge, known as the “Tripos.” William Thomson was expected by most to be Senior Wrangler. In fact, his tutor, Dr. Cookson, noted that it would be “a great surprise to the University if he were not.” Thomson himself was somewhat less convinced. When the competition began, another student, Stephen Parkinson, who was apparently more efficient in answering very rapidly and economically, emerged as a candidate to win. At the end, the more talented but less speedy Kelvin indeed came in second. Thomson did beat Parkinson, however, for the Smith’s Prize, awarded for the best performance in a series of examinations and thought to require more profound analytical understanding.
“I may say that the one thing”: Kelvin made this comment in his Baltimore Lectures on molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light, given at the Johns Hopkins University in 1884.
“On the Secular Cooling”: Kelvin 1864.
“On the Age of the Sun’s”: Kelvin 1862.
“For eighteen years it has pressed”: Kelvin 1864. The paper was read on April 28, 1862.
Kelvin’s first papers on the topics of heat: Kelvin made numerous contributions to thermodynamics. In 1844 he had a paper on the “age” of temperature distributions. Basically, he showed that a temperature distribution measured at the present can be the result only of a heat distribution that existed some finite time into the past. In 1848 he devised the absolute temperature scale that bears his name. In an 1851 paper entitled “On the Dynamical Theory of Heat,” he formulated one version of what is known today as the second law of thermodynamics.