Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe
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CREDITS
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint the following material:
Art
Figures 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 15, 19, 21, 25, 28: by Pam Jeffries.
Figure 18: Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology.
Figures 22, 23, 29, 30: By permission of the Master and Fellows of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Figures 32, 34, 35: Einstein, Albert; The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. © 1987–Current Year. Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.
Figures 9, 20: Courtesy of Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, through the assistance of Mark Hurn.
Figure 16: Courtesy of the author, processed by Amanda Smith, Graphics Office, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge.
Figure 31: Courtesy of Amanda Smith, Graphics Office, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge.
Figures 11, 17, 33: Courtesy of Pauling Collection, Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center.
Figure 36: Courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York.
Figures 26, 37: Courtesy of the Archives Georges Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, Centre de Recherche sur le Terre et le Climat G. Lemaître, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
Figure 24: Courtesy of the Reel Poster Gallery, London.
Figure 14: Reprinted by permission from Nature Publishing Group, Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature, April 25, 1953.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10: Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.
Figure 27: Courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society Library, Royal Astronomical Society Correspondence 1931.
Text
Quotes from Einstein on pages 230, 237, 239, 240, 263, 266, 267: By permission of the Albert Einstein Archives, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Quotes from Hoyle on pages 157, 173, 175, 186, 202, 208, 215, 216: By permission of the Master and Fellows of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Through the assistance of Mr. Geoffrey Hoyle.
Quote from Gold on page 187: By permission of the Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics.
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INDEX
A for Andromeda (television drama), 158
Abiogenesis, 298n
Accelerating expansion, 224, 226–27, 252–56
Accelerating Universe, The (Livio), 23–24
Athenaeum, 281n
Adams, Frank Dawson, 94–95
Admiralty Signals Establishment, 182
Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (essay collection), 266
Alpher, Ralph, 167, 168, 180, 210
American Chemical Society, Journal of, 112, 119
American Physical Society, 175
Amish, 34, 276n
Andromeda galaxy, 222, 226
Anschütz, Ludwig, 287n
Anthropics, 256–64
Antineutrinos, 163, 167
Aquinas, Thomas, 7
Argonne National Laboratory, 283n
Aristotle, 7, 16, 60
Astbury, William, 105, 111, 113–14, 120, 122, 127, 128, 132, 154
Aston, Francis, 161
Astrophysics, 10, 68, 156, 158–59, 164, 170–71, 180, 182–83, 219, 235, 294n
of big bang versus steady state model, 200–202, 213
cosmological constant in, 247
nuclear, 100–101, 159, 161–62, 171, 173–74, 178, 181, 184
principle of homogeneity and isotropy in, 185
Atkinson, Robert, 166
Atomic number, 163
Australia, 203, 207
Avery, Oswald, 117–19
Avery, Roy, 118
Baa
de, Walter, 169, 181, 204–5
Bakus, Carl, 283n
Bamford, Clement, 112
Bardeen, John, 235
Barnes, Charles, 173
Baryonic matter, 163
Becker, Lydia Ernestine, 35, 276n
Beckett, Samuel, 157
Becquerele, Henri, 92, 283n
Béguyer de Chancourtois, Alexandre-Emile de, 293n
Beighton, Elwyn, 127
Bell, Florence, 120, 122, 128, 132
Bell, Jocelyn, 182
Bell Telephone Laboratories, 210
Bergerac, Cyrano de, 64
Bergmann, Peter, 237
Berkeley, George, 16
Bernal, John, 129, 151
Bethe, Hans, 100–101, 166–70
Bible, Genesis, 6, 61–62
Bierce, Ambrose, 136
Big bang theory, 157–58, 187, 210–19, 261, 262
nucleosynthesis in, 167–69, 219, 232, 237, 294n
steady state cosmology versus, 183, 199–202, 205–7, 210–19
see also Expanding universe
Biodiversity, see Diversity, biological
Biology, 8, 60, 82, 120, 122, 156, 271
evolutionary, see Evolution
molecular, 33, 114–15
Birkbeck College, 144, 151
Biston betularia betularia morpha typica, 32
Black holes, 209, 263
Blending heredity, 38–44, 43, 45, 47, 49–50, 52, 56
Block, David, 193, 297n
Bluhm, Michael, 134
Bock, Fedor von, 7
Bohr, Niels, 281n
Bondi, Hermann, 182–83, 186–87, 198, 199, 201–3, 206–7, 209, 211, 295n
Bonnet, Charles, 8
Born, Max, 203, 263
Bragg, Lawrence, 110–14, 124, 125, 141, 144, 152, 154
Bragg, William Henry, 110, 111, 144
Branching, see Speciation
Branson, Herman, 109, 112, 285n, 286n
Brehm, Jack, 97
Brenner, Sydney, 124–25
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 80, 81, 85, 93, 164, 280–81n, 283n
British Broadcasting Company (BBC), 157
British Institute of Physics, 83
Brownian motion, 264
Brunauer, Stephen, 235
Brünn Natural History Society, 53
Brussels Scientific Society, Annals of, 191
Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de, 65, 278n
Bunsen, Robert, 293n
Burbidge, Geoffrey, 178–82, 179, 181–82, 207, 212, 214, 294n
Burbidge, Margaret, 170, 178–82, 179, 207, 214, 294n
Burton, Robert, 99
Butler, N., 179
Byron, Lord, 275n
Caesar, Julius, 16
Calder, L., 300n
California, University of, Berkeley, 119, 155
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 103, 106, 109, 115, 120, 131, 132, 134, 285n, 289n
Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, 166, 171, 173–74, 181
Cambridge University, 61, 134, 136, 152, 208, 279n, 280n
Cavendish Laboratory, 109–12, 125, 140–41, 161, 203, 286n
Darwin Correspondence Project, 52
Franklin at, 120–21
Hoyle at, 158, 170, 178, 183
Institute of Astronomy, 179, 214, 219
Kelvin at, 67–68
King’s College Biophysics Research Unit visit to, 124
Canyon Diablo meteorite, 283n
Carbon-nitrogen (CN) cycle, 166
Carter, Brandon, 258, 259
Castle, William Ernest, 58
Catholic Church, 56
Chabad, 97
Chamberlin, Thomas, 75
Chambers, Robert, 20
Chandrasekhar, Subramanyan, 181
Chandrasekhar mass, 301n
Chargaff, Erwin, 123, 130, 138, 141–43, 145
Chase, Martha, 131
Christianity, 61, 278n
Christian Science Monitor, 205
Christie, Julie, 158
Clayton, D. D., 179
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 124
Cold War, 128
Colgate, S. A., 179
Columbia University, 102
Common ancestry, 18, 21–23, 275n
Communists, 129
Condon, Edward, 166
Constitution, US, 9
Cookson, Dr., 279n
Copenhagen, University of, 120
Copernicus, Nicolaus, 24–25, 259
Corey, Robert, 104, 112–13, 154, 291n
DNA research by Pauling and, 132–33, 142, 149, 152, 291n
Royal Society meeting attended by, 128, 129
X-ray crystallography studies of peptides and amino acids by, 106, 138, 285n
Cornell University, 171
Correns, Carl, 53
Coryell, Charles D., 285n
Cosmic microwave background, 168, 185, 210–11, 213–14, 254
“Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity” (Einstein), 222
Cosmological constant, 223, 229–65, 301n
in accelerating universe, 252–56
anthropic reasoning on, 256–64
Einstein’s repudiation of, 237–43, 247, 267
Gamow’s account of Einstein’s “biggest blunder” remark on, 231–37
precursors of, 246–47
quantum mechanics and, 249–52
scientists’ continuing advocacy of, 243–45, 300n
in static universe, 223–25, 248
theoretical objections to, 229–31
Cosmological principle, 185, 198
Cosmology, 2, 159, 183–85, 203, 210–11, 235, 242, 257
big bang, see Big bang theory
Einstein on, 265–66
inflationary, 244
steady state, see Steady state theory
see also Cosmological constant
Coulomb force, 165, 169, 294n
Courtaulds Research Laboratories, 112
Creation field, 200, 218
Creationism, 20, 26, 32
see also Intelligent design
Creation myths, 9
Creation of the Universe, The (Gamow), 168
Crick, Francis, 115, 131, 154, 155
discovery of structure of DNA by Watson and, 103, 120–28, 134–37, 139–42, 144–53, 287n, 288n, 292n
Critchfield, Charles, 166
Croll, James, 80, 81
Crommelin, Andrew, 228
Curie, Pierre, 92, 283n
Curtis, Heber, 222
Cuvier, Georges, 66
Cygnus, 204–5
Dark energy, 255, 300n
Darlington, Cyril Dean, 58
Darwin, Charles, 10, 12, 16–36, 44, 47–59, 158, 212, 230, 269–71, 277n, 281n, 298n
and age-of-Earth controversy, 78–82, 101–2, 202
common descent concept of, 18, 21–22, 275n
and Copernican principle, 24–25
gradualism concept of, 18, 20–21, 66–67
Huxley’s support of, 81–82, 116
inclusion of humans in evolutionary theory of, 25–26, 274n
Jenkin’s criticism of, 39–41, 44, 47–49, 52, 58, 59
lack of familiarity with Mendel’s work, 52–54
mathematical errors of, 44, 47
Mendel influenced by, 54–57
on natural selection, 26–29, 31–33, 35–36, 43, 44, 269
and nineteenth-century theory of heredity, 37–38
pangenesis theory of, 50–51
reductionism of, 25
speciation concept of, 18, 22–23
works of, see titles of specific works
Darwin, Erasmus, 20
Darwin, George Howard, 78–79, 87, 92, 158, 280n
Davis, Arthur Sladen, 40, 49
Dawkins, Richard, 217
Dead of Night (film), 198
poster for, 186
Death instinct, 7
De Maillet, Benôit, 63–64
Denial, 217–
18
Dennett, Daniel, 26
Descartes, René, 63, 65, 263
Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, The (Darwin), 18, 274n
De Sitter, Willem, 229–30, 237, 262, 265
de Vries, Hugo, 53
Dicke, Robert, 210
Different Approach to Cosmology, A (Hoyle), 212
Dinosaurs, 20, 30
feathered, 275n
Dirac, Paul, 159, 281n
Diversity, biological, 12–14
natural selection as mechanism for, 18, 34
speciation and, 22
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) 41, 59, 102, 116–51, 146, 153–55, 287–88nn, 291–92nn
cosmic origins of, 170
early work on, 117–19, 288n
as evidence in criminal justice system, 6, 217
Pauling’s work on, 116, 119–20, 122–23, 126–28, 130–44, 288n, 291nn
Watson and Crick discover structure of, 103, 120–28, 134–37, 139–42, 144–53, 287n, 288n, 292n
X-ray diffraction images of, 120–29, 126, 132, 133, 138–40, 150–52
Dobzhansky, Theodosius, 20
“Don Juan” (Byron), 275n
Donohue, Jerry, 134, 145, 291n
Draper, John William, 281n
Drosophila fruit fly, 58
Dryster, Frederick, 281n
Dunbar, Noel, 173, 174
Dunitz, Jack, 112, 139, 143, 144, 154