tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post844094418334484881..comments2024-03-27T19:47:13.475-07:00Comments on Dark Buzz: Darwin and Einstein stole creditRogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03474078324293158376noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-6420132355060288502012-03-29T07:08:28.824-07:002012-03-29T07:08:28.824-07:00'Vestiges'. according to Darwin of its fir...'Vestiges'. according to Darwin of its first anonymous edition was well written, but the 'geology was bad & his zoology far worse' (Darwin was also an accomplished geologist). The progress of Darwin's thinking can be traced through his notebooks well before he published the 'Origin'; for instance his famous 'I think' diagram was drawn in his 'Transmutation of Species' notebook in 1837. <br /><br />I agree that Darwin was not working or thinking in a vacuum and its probably true to say that Evolution's time had come. He was certainly influenced by Malthus for example. However, before Darwin no one had attempted a detailed histological study of flora and fauna in order to understand the evolutionary progression and to be able to forestall the types of objections still put forward by Creationists today. His first observations of specimens on the Galapagos Is during his Voyages to the South Seas had caused him to realise that species were adaptable not immutable.<br /><br />If you want to go after a biologist whose work does not deserve recognition I suggest you go after Melvin Calvin who took the pioneering work of Andrew Benson and passed it off as his own (see BBC 'Biology: a Blooming History' - 'Photosynthesis').forthurstnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-89269222808236323612012-03-28T17:45:49.965-07:002012-03-28T17:45:49.965-07:00I don't doubt that Darwin made a valuable cont...I don't doubt that Darwin made a valuable contribution, but I don't see why he should get more credit for evolution than others, such as the 1844 book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiges_of_the_Natural_History_of_Creation" rel="nofollow">Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation</a>.Rogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03474078324293158376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-64249866882232922362012-03-28T15:25:32.399-07:002012-03-28T15:25:32.399-07:00"Darwin and Einstein had the advantage that t..."Darwin and Einstein had the advantage that their rivals were gentlemen who generously credited others. Darwin and Einstein were publicity seeking narcissists who were willing to fight for priority, while others were content to simply publish their ideas and let them stand on their own."<br /><br />You may well be qualified to make that statement about Einstein since you are obviously well versed in the history and the ideas involved. However, I doubt the same applies to Darwin. <br /><br />Darwin arranged for Wallace's and his papers on Evolution to be presented to the Royal Society on the same occasion whilst Wallace was still in Indonesia obtaining specimens and being paid under Darwin's instructions. <br /><br />As you probably understand, the Theory of Evolution does not reduce to a mathematical equation and is not testable in a laboratory. Darwin not only needed a theory but he also needed the evidence to show that the way species had evolved was in correspondence with the presumption of his theory. Accordingly, getting from protozoa to primates in easy steps required a considerable amount of histological investigation, peering down his microscope.<br /><br /> There is no doubt that Darwin was and is deservedly the central figure on Evolution. I suggest you read "Darwin" by Adrian Desmond and James Moore; there is no finer biography of a scientist and his work.forthurstnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-29830122929219028112012-03-26T09:21:37.398-07:002012-03-26T09:21:37.398-07:00I stand corrected.I stand corrected.Craignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-33744638517631508752012-03-26T09:10:09.191-07:002012-03-26T09:10:09.191-07:00Einstein did not choose the word "relativity&...Einstein did not choose the word "relativity", and he only reluctantly adopted it after everyone else was using it. The term was mainly popularized by Poincare.<br /><br />Einstein did not capture the imagination of his readers back in 1905. That was chiefly done by Minkowski in 1908. But Minkowski soon died, and could not cash in like Einstein.Rogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03474078324293158376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8148573551417578681.post-16758769151974545962012-03-26T08:30:36.583-07:002012-03-26T08:30:36.583-07:00It seems to me that the real reason why Einstein g...It seems to me that the real reason why Einstein got the credit for stuff that Lorentz and Poincare did is similar to why VHS beat Beta.<br /><br />Einstein marketed his ideas better than Poincare and Lorentz and captured the imagination of his readers in a way that Poincare and Lorentz did not, even though their ideas were virtually the same as Einstein's and they came first. Probably, this has something to do with the fact that Einstein worked in a patent office and learned from this experience valuable lessons about what is important in the real world for getting one's name attached to an idea.<br /><br />For starters, he gave his theory a fascinating name "relativity", which Poincare and Lorentz didn't do.Craignoreply@blogger.com