Vol. 21 2017 December Rev 2018­2021 ISSN 1041­5440 DIO The International Journal of Scientific History Dr.Frederick Cook's True 1908 Path Recovered Cookite Plagiarism Snow Job & the 7 Dwarfs The Great Comet of 1618 Long­Ignored Galileo Episode ERatosthenes' AIR ERRor BuriedGlory—AccurateAncient Astronomical Achievements: Badmathed by JHA and Isis 2 2017 December DIO: The International Journal of Scientific History 21 2017 December DIO 21 3 Download DIO 21, www.dioi.org/jL00.pdf. Table of Contents Page: z1 “A Hack Job”: The Enduring Perils of Copyism 1 “A Hack Job”: The Enduring Perils of Copyism ROBERT M. BRYCE 3 by zFig.1 Roald Amundsen with Order of Leopold, earned on the Belgica Expedition 8 Robert M. Bryce 2 “Ignored” No More: The 1993 Cook OSU Conference ROBERT M. BRYCE 13 zFig.1 Captain Brian Shoemaker's Map Sent to the Author 20 3 Cook as Non­Navigator, Inept Liar, & Thief of Glory DENNIS RAWLINS 33 A How the mighty have fallen zFig.1 Amateurishly Cooked&Doctored 1908 Double­Limb Solar Double­Altitudes 42 In 2005 yet another attempt to resuscitate Frederick Cook appeared under the imprint of 4 Finding the Smoking Gun of the Cook Case At Last ROBERT M. BRYCE 47 the once­respected independent publisher W.W. Norton Co., whose proud motto had been zFig.1 Drawing of Mountainous Profile, from Barrill's Diary 53 “books not for the single season, but for the years.” As a case study in how the print Fig.2 Cook's Probable 1907­1909 Route to His Farthest North and Back 54­55 publication industry is foundering, Norton's publication of True North by Bruce Henderson Fig.3 Typical Pages of Cook's Semilegible Scrawl in Polar Notebook 59 would do nicely. It speaks volumes about the sorry state of Editing, Proof­reading, and Fact Fig.4 Cook Sign at Denali State Park, detailing his tall tales 62 Checking in a time of struggle, transition and consolidation in the face of new technology Fig.5 The Lost Polar Notebook of Dr.Frederick A. Cook, R.M.Bryce, 2013 64 in which several mightier than Norton have already fallen. 5 NavFou­Snafu Vespucci Snow Job: Incontinental Drift DENNIS RAWLINS 65 z B A penchant for plagiarism 6 A Long Persistently Shelved Galileo Episode NICHOLAS KOLLERSTROM 87 B1 This is all the more disheartening because Henderson's previous polar potboiler, zFig.1 Path of 1618 great comet, drawn by astronomer John Bainbridge 89 Fatal North, had already firmly established his propensity for plagiarism and reader decep­ tion. That book was not simply an unnecessary retelling of Charles Francis Hall's Polaris 7 DIO's Own Bottom­Ten List of Establishment Myths DENNIS RAWLINS 93 expedition of 1871­72, already told so masterfully in Chauncey Loomis's Weird and Tragic z Shores (NY, Knopf, 1971), which acted as Henderson's blueprint. In addition, a signif­ 8 ERatosthenes ERRed by AIR: Surprise Physical Key DENNIS RAWLINS 95 icant portion of this retelling had been copied from Arctic Experiences, containing Capt. z George E. Tyson's Wonderful Drift on the Ice­Floe, a History of the Polaris Expedition, 9 Able Greek Science vs BeatifiedCannonized JHA Editor DENNIS RAWLINS 98 the Cruise of the Tigress, and Rescue of the Polaris Survivors, to which is added a General z Arctic Chronology, Tyson's account of his experiences as a member of Hall's expedition, 10 Where Was Frederick Cook's Actual Farthest North? BRYCE vs RAWLINS 107 published by Harper and Brothers in 1874, edited by E.V.Blake. Fatal North also contained z a considerable amount of quoted dialog between the expedition members of which there is no record in Tyson's book or any other source. Henderson couldn't copy this, so he simply An Irreplaceable Loss: made it up. B2 In fact, although Henderson adopted all of the trappings of a legitimate scholarly Longtime DIO Editor Keith Pickering has died, in an automobile crash 2017/11/5. effort in Fatal North, an examination of the three books will quickly demonstrate that, Editor until 2014, his roleˆ in the history of DIO is unique in that, as well as designing some of beyond his fictional dialogs, Henderson's talent for either original research or prose is the key mechanics of the journal, he shared in refereeing articles for it, and contributed per­ limited indeed. Even his copying without attribution was done in so crude a manner that no ceptive ones to it — including the multifaceted paper (www.dioi.org/vols/wc0.pdf, DIO 12 responsible secondary school teacher would have permitted it in a student paper. Take this 1 2002) that established beyond doubt Hipparchos' authorship of history's pioneering passage on a single incident as copied from Tyson's account: 1025­starz Ancient Star Catalog. His mathematical skills easily exceeded those of all cur­ p.223 of Tyson: rent historians of science put together, as his various research projects demonstrated. “I have been thinking of home and family all day. I have been away many Thanksgivings His initial book was devoted to the 1st surface conquest of the North Pole in 1968, by before, but always with a sound keel under my feet, some clean, dry, decent clothes to put fellow­Minnesotan Ralph Plaisted's expedition. Keith's last years produced several papers on, and without a thought of what I should have for dinner; for there was sure to be plenty, on cosmology (a new career at 60y!) followed by The Lost Island of Columbus: Solving the and good too. Never did I expect to spend a Thanksgiving without even a plank between Mystery of Guanahani, http://columbuslandfall.com/ccnav/author.shtml, a typically well­ me and the waters of Baffin Bay, and making my home with Esquimaux; but I have this reasoned book on his prime life's­project: where on 1492/10/12 did Columbus 1st set foot to cheer me — that all my loved ones are in safety and comfort, if God has spared their on the New World? lives; and as they do not know of my perilous situation, they will not have that to mar their His dedication of the book “For DR / who set me on the road” is a valued honor enjoyment of the day.” that reflects his pride in helping DIO thrive, as well as recalling that his 1st paper on the p.166 Henderson: Columbus mystery appeared in DIO 4.1 2, www.dioi.org/vols/w41.pdf, in 1994, 23y ago. “Tyson thought of home and family all day long. He had been away at sea on many Both as analytic genius and cheerful zfriend, we of DIO will miss him — to the end of Thanksgivings before but always with a sound keel under his feet, clean and dry clothes, and our own lives. no thought of what he would have for dinner, for it would doubtless be (on a ship?) turkey 4 Robert M. Bryce \A Hack Job" 2017 December DIO 21 1 Robert M. Bryce \A Hack Job" 2017 December DIO 21 1 5 z z with all the trimmings aplenty and delicious. Never did he expect to spend a Thanksgiving (no one knows whether this story is really true), Henderson's use of them nearly verbatim without even a plank between him and the waters of Baffin Bay, making his home in an without citing their source is the very definition of plagiarism. igloo with Eskimos on an ice floe. But he had this to cheer him: his loved ones were together in safety and comfort, and they knew nothing about his perilous situation.” D Curiosities of a copyist C Encore! D1 Other examples of similar direct paraphrasing could be cited that occur in Hen­ derson's book: many more from Freeman, some from John Edward Weems's Peary, the C1 Likewise, Henderson tries to pass off True North as an unbiased study of the Polar Explorer and the Man, and some from my own book, Cook & Peary. Additionally, scores Controversy, backed by research in the original sources. It is nothing of the kind. Like of facts 1st published in C&P, still available nowhere else but the original documents, are Fatal North, Henderson again merely picks and chooses what suits his bias for Frederick reused in the same contexts, in the same sequence and in similar language unique to my Cook from easily obtained secondary sources without acknowledging this is what he has book, making clear that it, and not the original documents, was the source of these facts. done, although he lists the original sources in his bibliography. D2 The trouble with copying, beyond its ethical considerations, is that when something C2 Nevertheless, on its jacket, Norton's copy writers tell us “Bruce Henderson has is copied without examining its sources, the author has no way of judging its accuracy. In crafted a gripping account of the claims and counterclaims, and presents fascinating scien­ other words, copied material in the hands of an uniformed author is only as accurate as the tific and even psychological evidence to put the harrowing details of polar exploration in a material being copied, at best. He has no real basis by which to distinguish what is actually new context.” In reality, True North had about as much “craft” to it as Fatal North. true or false. Because of this, Henderson has inevitably copied others' mistakes, “facts” C3 Henderson's blueprint this time was the now­obsolete first biography of Cook, An­ that newer scholarship has supplanted and material that the copied writer simply made up, drew Freeman's The Case for Doctor Cook (NY, Coward­McCann, 1961).