The Atlantic Monthly | December 2002 Our Genius Problem Why This
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9 the Beautiful Skulls of Schiller and the Georgian Girl Quantitative and Aesthetic Scaling of the Races, 1770–1850
9 The beautiful skulls of Schiller and the Georgian girl Quantitative and aesthetic scaling of the races, 1770–1850 Robert J. Richards Isak Dinesen, in one of her gothic tales about art and memory, spins a story of a nobleman’s startling recognition of a prostitute he once loved and abandoned. He saw her likeness in the beauty of a young woman’s skull used by an artist friend. After we had discussed his pictures, and art in general, he said that he would show me the prettiest thing that he had in his studio. It was a skull from which he was drawing. He was keen to explain its rare beauty to me. “It is really,” he said, “the skull of a young woman [. .].” The white polished bone shone in the light of the lamp, so pure. And safe. In those few seconds I was taken back to my room [. .] with the silk fringes and the heavy curtains, on a rainy night of fifteen years before. (Dinesen 1991, 106‒107)1 The skulls pictured in Figure 9.1 have also been thought rare beauties and evocative of something more. On the left is the skull of a nameless, young Caucasian female from the Georgian region. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the great anatomist and naturalist, celebrated this skull, prizing it because of “the admirable beauty of its formation” (bewundernswerthen Schönheit seiner Bildung). He made the skull an aesthetic standard, and like the skull in Dinesen’s tale, it too recalled a significant history (Blumenbach 1802, no. 51). She was a young woman captured during the Russo-Turkish war (1787–1792) and died in prison; her dissected skull had been sent to Blumenbach in 1793 (Dougherty and Klatt 2006‒2015, IV, 256‒257). -
The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick
16. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick From the author of the national bestseller Chaos comes an outstanding biography of one of the most dazzling and flamboyant scientists of the 20th century that "not only paints a highly attractive portrait of Feynman but also . makes for a stimulating adventure in the annals of science" 15. “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman!” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. Here he recounts in his inimitable voice his experience trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek; cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets; accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums; painting a naked female toreador. In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric―a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah. 14. D Day – Through German Eyes, The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944, by Holger Eckhertz Almost all accounts of D Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6th 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day? What were their experiences on facing the tanks, the flamethrowers and the devastating air superiority of the Allies? This book sheds fascinating light on these questions, bringing together statements made by German survivors after the war, when time had allowed them to reflect on their state of mind, their actions and their choices of June 6th. -
Galton's Gleam
Significance In press, , June 2020 Galton’s Gleam: Visual Thinking & Graphic Discoveries Michael Friendly & Howard Wainer If I can't picture it, I can't understand it. --- Albert Einstein magine a scene at a recent restaurant meal with family and friends. Close your eyes. How vividly can you see the table, the restaurant setting in your mind’s eye? What was your server wearing? Do I you have images of the sequence of dishes? For some people, this is easy and natural; others can remember many details, but they can’t replay the scene in mental images. Discussions of the ability to construct and remember such images are sometimes categorized under such headings as “inner vision”, “graphic communication”, or “visual insight”. More evocatively, in the context of scientific discovery, such images might be called “a gleam in the mind’s eye,” something that Einstein evokes in our opening quote: visual understanding of some phenomenon better understood than in tables or words. In this account we focus on some particularly interesting gleams that originate with Francis Galton Specifically, we highlight Galton’s initial contributions to the modern science of mental imagery, followed by some of the remarkable discoveries he made using his own visualization abilities. Galton’s contributions to science The Victorian polymath Sir Francis Galton was among the most dominant scientific and intellectual figures in Victorian England (Brookes, 2004; Bulmer, 2003). He made important contributions in many areas: biology and genetics (studies of inheritance, twin studies), forensic science (fingerprints), geography (exploration of Africa), meteorology (weather maps), psychology and cognitive science (word associations, mental imagery, standardized questionnaires). -
What Should We Do with the Social Construct of Race?
Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2013 What Should we Do with the Social Construct of Race? Jason A. Gordon Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, European History Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Gordon, Jason A., "What Should we Do with the Social Construct of Race?". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2013. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/305 Philosophy Senior Thesis What should we do with the Social Construct of Race? A Senior Thesis Written by: Jason Gordon 2013 Gordon 1 Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1: The Beginnings ............................................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2: Early Cultivation ....................................................................................................................... -
Galton, Terman, Cox: the Distinctive Volume II in Genetic Studies Of
GCQXXX10.1177/0016986220921360Gifted Child QuarterlySimonton 921360research-article2020 Article Gifted Child Quarterly 1 –10 Galton, Terman, Cox: © 2020 National Association for Gifted Children Article reuse guidelines: The Distinctive Volume II sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986220921360 10.1177/0016986220921360 in Genetic Studies of Genius journals.sagepub.com/home/gcq Dean Keith Simonton1 Abstract With just one exception, all of the volumes in Terman’s Genetic Studies of Genius report the results of a longitudinal study of more than a thousand intellectually gifted children. That single exception is Volume II, Cox’s single-authored The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses, which instead was a retrospective study of 301 eminent creators and leaders, using historiometric methods to estimate their IQs (as well as to assess a subset of 100 on 67 character traits). This article discusses how this volume actually fits with the other four volumes in the set. After giving the historical background, discussion turns to the emergence of Cox’s doctoral dissertation. Then comes a narrative of the aftermath, including subsequent contributions by Cox, Terman, and numerous other researchers extending into the 21st century. The article closes by treating the ways that the intellectually gifted and the historic geniuses are not comparable, thus indicating the need for more recent replications and extensions of her work. Keywords archival, biographical, historical analysis, early childhood, gifted, intelligence Strictly speaking, Lewis M. Terman’s (1925-1959) monu- complete list of impressive big names provided on multiple mental and highly influential Genetic Studies of Genius con- occasions throughout the volume. -
A Brief History of Stephen Hawking's Blockbuster
COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS IAN BERRY/MAGNUM PHOTOS IAN BERRY/MAGNUM Stephen Hawking and colleagues at the University of Cambridge in the 1980s, before the publication of A Brief History of Time. PUBLISHING A brief history of Stephen Hawking’s blockbuster Elizabeth Leane surveys the extraordinary influence of the physicist’s first foray into popular-science publishing. owards the end of The Theory of rarely reach the million mark, and are usu- History of Time is not, as is sometimes Everything, the 2014 film about ally much lower. So this is an astounding claimed, unprecedented. There were Stephen Hawking, scenes depict the achievement for a science book aimed at nineteenth-century science blockbusters Treception of his popular science classic, A the non-scientist, and especially for one such as mathematician Mary Somerville’s Brief History of Time (1988). The camera that grapples with the some of the biggest 1834 On the Connexion of the Physical zooms in on a large display of the book in questions in physics — the Big Bang, black Sciences (see R. Holmes Nature 514, 432– a shop window; fans crowd the physicist- holes, a ‘theory of everything’ and the nature 433; 2014). And in 1930, physicist James author, hoping that he will autograph their of time. As Hawking entertainingly related Jeans’ The Mysterious Universe achieved a copies. Future events are outlined in the in a 2013 essay in The Wall Street Journal, comparable reception to Hawking’s book film’s closing titles: the first relates not to he rewrote A Brief History repeatedly at (in Britain, at least); the jacket of the 1937 the ongoing impact of Hawking’s scientific the behest of his editor, Peter Guzzardi at Pelican edition promotes it as “the famous achievements or the challenges of living Bantam, to make it more understandable to book which upset tradition by making with motor neuron disease, but to the sales a lay readership. -
Francis Galton
Journal ofMedical Ethics 1998;24:99-105 J Med Ethics: first published as 10.1136/jme.24.2.99 on 1 April 1998. Downloaded from Francis Galton: and eugenics today David J Galton, and Clare J Galton St Bartholomew's Hospital, London and Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Abstract Laws proposes many social measures to improve Eugenics can be defined as the use ofscience applied the quality of future generations.' to the qualitative and quantitative improvement of Galton strongly believed, following on from the human genome. The subject was initiated by Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selec- Francis Galton with considerable support from tion, that "we should attempt to exert control over Charles Darwin in the latter half of the 19th century. organic evolution in the same way as we exert Its scope has increased enormously since the recent control over the physical world and to direct it into revolution in molecular genetics. Geneticfiles can be channels of our own choosing".4 This would pro- easily obtainedfor individuals either antenatally or at vide practical applications for Darwin's theories birth; somatic gene therapy has been introducedfor and replace his idea of natural selection by a type some rare inborn errors of metabolism; and gene of artificial selection. The publication of Darwin's manipulation ofhuman germ-line cells will no doubt Origin ofSpecies in 1859 and the elaboration ofhis occur in the nearfuture to generate organs for theory of evolution by natural selection provoked transplantation. both bitter theological controversies with the The past history ofeugenics has been appalling, creationist proponents of the animal world as well with gross abuses in the USA between 1931 and as spirited debates on its application to social copyright. -
Heredity and Hereditarianism
Philosophy of Education An Encyclopedia Editor J.J. Chambliss Garland Publishing, Inc. New York & London 1996 HEREDITY AND HEREDITARIANISM Barry Mehler Department of Humanities Ferris State University Big Rapids, MI 49307 2500 words. Heredity is usually defined as the genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring. This, however, is an oversimplification. The child does not inherit characteristics or traits from its parents. Children do not inherit musical ability, criminal tendencies, or IQ. Neither do they inherit physical characteristics such as skin or hair color. The child inherits one set of allele's from each parent. Together they form the child's genotype. The child also inherits mitochondria which are outside the nucleus of the cell. Genes code for the production of proteins which in turn interact with the environment to produce a phenotype. What we refer to as traits or characteristics are the phenotypes. The human being in all his or her complexity is the result of this interaction of a unique genotype with a unique environment. The modern study of heredity began with the rediscovery in 1900 of the work of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) by Hugo De Vries, Karl Correns, and Erich Tschermak. Mendel discovered the basic laws of segregation and independent assortment of paired alleles which opened the way for the modern science of genetics. The American geneticist, Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) carried on studies of heredity in Drosophila (fruit fly) and was awarded the Nobel prize in 1933 for his discoveries relating to the laws and mechanisms of heredity. Morgan showed the existence of genes located at specific sites on chromosomes. -
The Fingerprint Sourcebook
CHAPTER SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE FOUNDATIONS OF FRICTION RIDGE EXAMINATIONS Glenn Langenburg CONTENTS 3 14.1 Introduction 27 14.5 Conclusions 3 14.2 The Nature of Scientific 27 14.6 Reviewers Inquiry 7 14.3 Scientific Research Related to 27 14.7 References Friction Ridge Examination 26 14.4 Future Directions for Research Related to Friction Ridge Examination 14–1 Scientific Research Supporting the Foundations of Friction Ridge Examinations C H A P T E R 1 4 CHAPTER 14 14.1 Introduction When some people think of research, what comes to mind are images of individuals in white lab coats, looking up intermittently to take data measurements and jot down SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH notes. This is a very limited and narrow view of research. Investigative reporters, attorneys, police detectives, engi- neers, authors, actors, and, of course, scientists, all per- SUPPORTING THE form research. The scientist, however, performs scientific research. Simply defined, research is an inquiry into any FOUNDATIONS OF FRICTION subject or phenomenon. Scientific research, then, can be defined as a scientific inquiry into a subject or RIDGE EXAMINATIONS phenomenon. What makes an inquiry “scientific”? What is science? What Glenn Langenburg is scientific method? What are the rules for a scientific in- quiry? The answers to these questions are not simple, and are the subject of an entire realm of philosophy of science. This chapter will review some of these topics, relating the issue to friction ridge skin science. The reader, however, is encouraged to read more regarding the philosophy of science to better understand the complexity of science and scientific inquiry. -
The New York Times Book of Mathematics Reviewed by Ian Stewart
Book Review The New York Times Book of Mathematics Reviewed by Ian Stewart an order that helps to The New York Times Book of Mathematics tell a story—which is, Edited by Gina Kolata after all, what journal- Sterling, 2013 ism is about. US$24.95, 496 pages This choice makes ISBN-13: 978-1402793226 the book far more ac- cessible to the general Mathematicians often complain that their subject reader, though I’m is neglected in the mass media, although when it tempted to photocopy does get reported there always seem to be a few the contents list and of us who find it impossible to resist the urge to shuffle the articles complain bitterly about inaccuracies and “hype”, back into the order which usually seems to mean the promotion of the of publication. Read- area concerned instead of their own. As this sump- ing them in that order tuous volume demonstrates, neither complaint would give a dramatic can sensibly be directed at the New York Times perception of how our subject has changed over [NYT ]. For more than a century this high-quality the last 120 years; however, this comes over any- newspaper has done sterling work in the service way. Paul Hoffman’s foreword and Gina Kolata’s in- of our profession, the public, and the cause of sci- troduction provide concise and helpful overviews ence journalism. of such questions, and the first group of topics This collection contains more than a hundred addresses general issues of what mathematics is NYT articles on mathematics and its applications and what it’s for. -
How Famous and Respected Was Wallace? [Version 3] by Alan Leyin (Thurrock Local History Society, Grays, Essex, UK), October 2014
How Famous and Respected was Wallace? [Version 3] By Alan Leyin (Thurrock Local History Society, Grays, Essex, UK), October 2014 Having read George Beccaloni’s posting (Wallace Memorial Fund News blog, 25.04.2014) on John van Wyhe’s assertion that it is incorrect to describe Wallace as having been ‘… among the most famous Victorian scientists during his lifetime’; and that the Victorian naturalist ‘… never approached anything like the level of fame or respect’ (van Wyhe 2013, p 172) of many of his contemporaries, I had the urge to rush to my keyboard. Not wishing to duplicate Charles Smith’s response (The Linnean, 2014), to which is referred; nor being able to match either Smith’s or van Wyhe’s command of the Wallace archive, I make a few of observations (some also made elsewhere, on earlier postings) from the point of view of a non-specialist. Being quite different concepts, there is limited value in addressing issues of ‘fame or respect’ as if they were synonymous. One can, of course, accrue respect without being famous; or, indeed, become famous for being notoriously disrespected. To unpick some of the issues… On Wednesday 26th April 1882, a host of the nation’s worthies and international dignitaries gathered at Westminster Abbey to pay their final respects to Charles Darwin. Among those invited were the pre- eminent scientists of the Victorian era; all of whom would have watched the pall-bearers – three members of which had been drawn from their own distinguished circle – carry the unpolished oak coffin from its temporary sanctum in the Chapter House to its place in front of the Communion rails of the Abbey. -
Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims
EUGENICS: ITS DEFINITION, SCOPE AND AIMS By FRANcrs G alton, D.C.L.; Sc.D.; F.R.S. Read before the Sociological Society at a Meeting in the School of Economics and Political Science (London University), on May 16th, 1904. Professor K arl P earson, F.R.S., in the chair. Eugenics is the science which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race; also with those that develop them to the utmost advantage. The improvement of the .inborn qualities, or stock, of some one human population, will alone be discussed here. What is meant by improvement ? What by the syllable E u in Eugenics, whose English equivalent is good? There is considerable difference between goodness in the several qualities and in that of the character as a whole. The character depends largely on the proportion between qualities whose balance may be much influenced by education. We must therefore leave morals as far as possible out of the discussion, not entangling ourselves with the almost hopeless difficulties they raise as to whether a character as a whole is good or bad. Moreover, the good ness or badness of character is not absolute, but relative to the cur rent form of civilisation. A fable will best explain what is meant. Let the scene be the Zoological Gardens in the quiet hours of the night, and suppose that, as in old fables, the animals are able to converse, and that some very wise creature who had easy access to all the cages, say a philosophic sparrow or rat, was engaged in collecting the opinions of all sorts of animals with a view of elaborating a system of absolute morality.