Rebels, Mavericks, and Heretics in Biology

by Edited and with an Introduction by Oren Harman and Michael R. Dietrich and withan Epilogue by R.C. Lewontin

• ISBN13: 9780300158458
• ISBN10: 0300158459
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2009-09-01
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This book is the first devoted to modern biology's innovators and iconoclasts: men and women who challenged prevailing notions in their fields. Some of these scientists were Nobel Prize winners, some were considered cranks or gadflies, some were in fact wrong. The stories of these stubborn dissenters are individually fascinating. Taken together, they provide unparalleled insights into the role of dissent and controversy in science and especially the growth of biological thought over the past century. Each of the book's nineteen specially commissioned chapters offers a detailed portrait of the intellectual rebellion of a particular scientist working in a major area of biology--genetics, evolution, embryology, ecology, biochemistry, neurobiology, and virology as well as others. An introduction by the volume's editors and an epilogue by R. C. Lewontin draw connections among the case studies and illuminate the nonconforming scientist's crucial function of disturbing the comfort of those in the majority. By focusing on the dynamics and impact of dissent rather than on "winners" who are credited with scientific advances, the book presents a refreshingly original perspective on the history of the life sciences. Scientists featured in this volume: Alfred Russel Wallace Hans Driesch Wilhelm Johannsen Raymond Arthur Dart C. D. Darlington Richard Goldschmidt Barbara McClintock Oswald T. Avery Roger Sperry Leon Croizat Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards Peter Mitchell Howard Temin Motoo Kimura William D. Hamilton Carl Woese Stephen Jay Gould Thelma Rowell Daniel S. Simberloff

Author Biography

Oren Harman is associate professor, Graduate Program for Science, Technology and Society, Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar Ilan University, Israel. Michael R. Dietrich is professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. x
Introduction: On Rebels, Icons, and the Value of Dissent	p. 1
Alfred Russel Wallace, the Discovery of Natural Selection, and the Origins of Humankind	p. 20
Rebel with Two Causes: Hans Driesch	p. 37
Wilhelm Johannsen: A Rebel or a Diehard?	p. 65
Raymond Arthur Dart: The Man who Unwillingly Ushered in a Revolution in the Evolution of Humankind	p. 84
In Weismann's Footsteps: The Cyto-Rebellion of C.D. Darlington	p. 103
Striking the Hornet's Nest: Richard Goldschmidt's Rejection of the Particulate Gene	p. 119
Rebellion and Iconoclasm in the Life and Science of Barbara McClintock	p. 137
Challenging the Protein Dogma of the Gene: Oswald T. Avery, a Revolutionary Conservative	p. 154
Roger Sperry and Integrative Action in the Nervous System	p. 174
Leon Croizat: A Radical Biogeographer	p. 194
Dogma, Heresy, and Conversion: Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards's Crusade and the Levels-of-Selection Debate	p. 213
Peter Mitchell: Changing the Face of Bioenergetics	p. 231
Howard Temin: Rebel of Evidence and Reason	p. 248
Motoo Kimura and the Rise of Neutralism	p. 265
Against the Grain: The Science and Life of William D. Hamilton	p. 282
The Iconoclastic Research Program of Carl Woese	p. 302
Stephen Jay Gould, Darwinian Iconoclast?	p. 321
Culture and Gender Do Not Dissolve into How Scientists ""Read"" Nature: Thelma Rowell's Heterodoxy	p. 338
Bringing Statistical Methods to Community and Evolutionary Ecology: Daniel S. Simberloff	p. 356
Epilogue Legitimation Is the Name of the Game	p. 372
List of Contributors	p. 381
Index	p. 385
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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