Prematurity in Scientific Discovery

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ISBN: 9780520231061 | 0520231066
Cover: Hardcover
Copyright: 9/1/2002

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A collection of essays by pre-eminent scientists and historians and philosophers that reviews biologist Gunther Stent's idea of "prematurity" to explain why many scientific claims and theories later recognized as significant discoveries were initially ignored or dismissed by the scientific community.

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

xiii

Acknowledgments

xvii

List of Contributors

xix

PART ONE Introduction

A Background to Prematurity and Resistance to ``Discovery''

(19)

Ernest B. Hook

Prematurity in Scientific Discovery

(15)

Gunther S. Stent

PART TWO Observer and Participant Accounts

Prematurity, Nuclear Fission, and the Transuranium Actinide Elements

(9)

Glenn T. Seaborg

Resistance to Change and New Ideas in Physics: A Personal Perspective

(13)

Charles H. Townes

The Timeliness of the Discoveries of the Three Modes of Gene Transfer in Bacteria

(11)

Norton D. Zinder

Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science

(17)

Oliver Sacks

PART THREE Historical Perspectives

SECTION A: Relatively Unproblematic Examples

Prematurity and Delay in the Prevention of Scurvy

(5)

Kenneth F. Carpenter

A Triptych to Serendip: Prematurity and Resistance to Discovery in the Earth Sciences

(17)

William Glen

Theories of an Expanding Universe: Implications of Their Reception for the Concept of Scientific Prematurity

109

(15)

Norriss S. Hetherington

Interdisciplinary Dissonance and Prematurity: Ida Noddack's Suggestion of Nuclear Fission

124

(27)

Ernest B. Hook

SECTION B: Disputable Cases

Michael Polanyi's Theory of Surface Adsorption: How Premature?

151

(13)

Mary Jo Nye

Prematurity and the Dynamics of Scientific Change

164

(11)

Frederic L. Holmes

Barbara McClintock's Controlling Elements: Premature Discovery or Stillborn Theory?

175

(25)

Nathaniel C. Comfort

The Work of Joseph Adams and Archibald Garrod: Possible Examples of Prematurity in Human Genetics

200

(13)

Arno G. Motulsky

PART FOUR Natural Selection and Evolution from the Perspective of Prematurity

The Prematurity of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection

213

(26)

Michael Ruse

Prematurity, Evolutionary Biology, and the Historical Sciences

239

(14)

Michael T. Ghiselin

PART FIVE Perspectives from the Vantage Point of the Social Sciences

The Prematurity of ``Prematurity'' in Political Science

253

(7)

George Von der Muhll

The Impact and Fate of Gunther Stent's Prematurity Thesis

260

(20)

Lawrence H. Stern

Premature Discovery Is Failure of Intersection among Social Worlds

280

(15)

Elihu M. Gerson

PART SIX Philosophical Perspectives

Fleck, Kuhn, and Stent: Loose Reflections on the Notion of Prematurity

295

(11)

Ilana Lowy

The Concept of Prematurity and the Philosophy of Science

306

(23)

Martin Jones

PART SEVEN Closing Considerations

Prtmaturity and Promise: Why Was Stent's Notion of Prematurity Itself So Premature?

329

(13)

David L. Hull

Reflections on Hull's Remarks

342

(4)

Gonzalo Munevar

Comments

346

(8)

Gunther S .Stent

Extensions and Complexities: In Defense of Prematurity in Scientific Discovery

354

(13)

Ernest B. Hook

Index

367

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Prematurity in Scientific Discovery

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Prematurity in Scientific Discovery

Summary

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Supplemental Materials

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