NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2015/10/09
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2015-10-09 16:00.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, Sad news of the death of Charles Coulston Gillispie. Plus congratulations for Eugenie C. Scott and a preview of Ian Tattersall's latest.
CHARLES COULSTON GILLISPIE DIES The eminent historian of science Charles Coulston Gillispie died on October 6, 2015, at the age of 97, according to a tweet from Princeton University. His books included Genesis and Geology (1951), The Edge of Objectivity (1960), Science and Polity in France at the End of the Old Regime (1980), Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749-1827 (1997), and Science and Polity in France: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Years (2004). He also was the editor-in-chief of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970-1980). Gillispie's first book, Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790-1850, is regarded as a modern classic. In it, he argued -- as Nicolaas A. Rupke explained in a 1994 retrospective assessment -- that the geological controversies in the generation before the Origin of Species "did not represent a clash of science with theology but stemmed from religious differences within the scientific community itself; the conflict was not one of religion versus science but of religion within science." Rupke added, "Gillispie's interpretation marked a radical departure from the popular warfare model," but reserved his highest praise for the book's historical methodology: "With Gillispie's Genesis and Geology, the history of the earth sciences became historical scholarship as we know it." The book was reissued in 1996 with a foreword by Rupke and a new preface by Gillispie. Gillispie was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on August 6, 1918. He earned a degree in chemistry from Wesleyan University in 1940, served in the US Army during World War II, and earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1949. His academic career was mainly spent in the Department of History at Princeton University. His honors included the International Balzan Prize for History and Philosophy of Science in 1997 and the History of Science Society's George Sarton Medal in 1984 for lifetime scholarly achievement. For the tweet from Princeton University, visit: https://twitter.com/Princeton/status/651896080863469568 EUGENIE C. SCOTT ELECTED TO AU BOARD NCSE is pleased to congratulate Eugenie C. Scott on her election to the board of trustees of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "Genie Scott is a longtime ally in the fight for church-state separation," said the Reverend Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "I am extremely pleased that she will be serving on the board at Americans United. AU will benefit greatly from her expertise and knowledge." "The bonds between NCSE and AU have always been strong," commented NCSE's executive director Ann Reid, "and have helped to keep religiously motivated pseudoscience out of the classroom of the public schools, especially in the landmark case of Kitzmiller v. Dover. Now, with NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott on AU's board and AU's legal director Richard B. Katskee on NCSE's board, the partnership is sure to continue to thrive." For the website of Americans United, visit: http://au.org A GLIMPSE OF THE STRANGE CASE OF THE RICKETY COSSACK NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of Ian Tattersall's The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack (St. Martin's Press, 2015). The preview consists of a portion of chapter 1, "Humankind's Place in Nature," which briefly reviews the history of Western scientific thought about humanity's place in nature from Aristotle to just before Darwin. According to the reviewer for Science, The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack "[t]races the contingencies, false starts, and diversity of opinions that have characterized the intellectual history of paleoanthropology from Darwin to today ... History, Tattersall reminds us, defines who we think we are." For the preview of The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack, visit: http://ncse.com/book-excerpt For information about the book from its publisher, visit: http://us.macmillan.com/thestrangecaseofthericketycossack/iantattersall WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America, recently? If not, then you've missed: * Josh Rosenau pondering the evidence for liquid water on Mars: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/water-mars-0016670 * Glenn Branch dissecting a tendentious passage in a biography of Darwin: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/elephant-room-0016649 * Josh Rosenau discussing the role of serendipity in the newest Nobelists' work: http://ncse.com/blog/2015/10/nobel-prizes-serendipity-0016678 And much more besides! For The Science League of America, visit: http://ncse.com/blog Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x303 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America: http://ncse.com/blog Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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