John Burdon Sanderson Haldane was a giant among men. He made
major contributions to genetics, population biology, and
evolutionary theory. He was at once comfortable in mathematics,
chemistry, microbiology and animal physiology. But it was his
belief in education that led to his preparing his popular essays
for publication. In his own words: "Many scientific workers believe
that they should confine their publications to learned journals. I
think that the public has a right to know what is going on inside
the laboratories, for some of which it pays." So begins Haldane's
collection of essays, perhaps the most public intellectual
communicating science before the writings of Stephen Jay Gould.
The first part of the volume emphasizes the important
developments in biology and natural science in the first quarter of
the century. As such, it provides a benchmark for studies of the
next three quarters of the century. In an unusual introduction,
Price takes the readers through their paces, discussing the
situation then and now in vitamins, oxygen want, disease controls,
and the rewards of science as such. This is followed by Haldane's
views on society, art, religion and economy as seen through the
eyes of a politically alert major scientist. The editor provides
readers unfamiliar with Haldane with a carefully rendered
chronology of a life that began in 1892 and that spanned much of
the present century.
Despite ideas on race, class and politics that have seen better
times, Haldane was truly exceptional in translating the science of
his time into ideas that "everyman" could readily grasp. His
predictions on what science would achieve were on target far more
often than not. But even his failed predictions are perhaps the
most interesting of all. They throw into sharp relief the truly
novel and revolutionary developments in science over the past 75
years.
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