In the early 1900’s in Piltdown, England a skull was found. It was dug up buy a laborer. He gave the skull to Charles Dawson who was an amateur archeologist. This skull was thought to be the missing link between humans and apes because the skull was so primitive. They had thought this because Charles Darwin 50 years earlier had published his Origin of Species which all living things came from a common ancestor. Dawson took his piece of the skull to London’s Natural History Museum and that is where he met his partner in crime Sir Arthur Smith Woodward. The two began to dig all over. They discovered many other bones but the most important link they found was an ape like jaw with human like teeth. The people waited so anxiously to see the “first” ape man. They named this man the Piltdown Man. Scientists began to question the twos work. They began to think of things like how do we know the jaw goes to the skull if the piece was broken off there is no definite proof of the two going together. There was also the fact that the canine tooth was missing. It was then found and silenced doubters for a while when all of the sudden it was published that the Piltdown Man was fake. The scientific world had just been turned upside down. Many were embarrassed to have believed such bs. The way it was found to be a fake was when a museum worker went to date the fossil and found it to be much younger than expected. The person who was at fault for the hoax was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was the creator of Sherlock Holmes but more importantly a doctor and the mastermind behind the hoax.
Yes humans do make mistakes. The mistakes that were made in this scenario were all the scientists who began to make their work all about this ape man. The test of dating the fossils should have been done by Dawson or Woodard before they claimed to have found the first man. These mistakes negatively influenced the scientific process because if they would have run the tests they would have known it was fake. So the people are expecting the scientists to do the entire steps required and then to find out that its fake makes the people not trust the scientific process.
The positive aspects of the scientific method were those that proved the skull to be a phony. First, Kenneth Oakley applied a chemical test to help authenticate and date the fossils. He found that the fossils were much younger than they were being portrayed. Next they did chemical tests to find out the nitrogen content of the skull and these tests just confirmed the fact that the skull was a fake. They discovered the jaw to be that of an orangutan’s and the teeth had just been filled down and disguised as human teeth. The also said that the bones had been boiled and then colored to give the aged look. Also, the canine tooth had been filled to the shape and then painted to match.
I do not think that removing the “human” factor from science will create fewer errors I believe it will cause more room for error. Yes humans do make mistakes but just think about all the problems we encounter with technology. There are computers crashing, errors in manufacturing that create glitches in equipment, and there is also the problem of having to have electricity to run these machines. I do not believe that the “human” factor should be taken out of science because if we have machines doing the work it will cause more errors.
The lesson that can be learned from this is that the human race is just greedy. They are greedy for knowledge and recognition. The human race is also very gullible.
Amanda
ReplyDeleteWhen you mentioned the life lesson that could be learned, I didn't even think of it before. I agree with you though that this scenario does show that humans are greedy for knowledge and recognition. Dawson is a perfect example of someone being greedy for recognition. People are also very gullible, because we do believe everything we hear even if it's something so ridiculous. Good job on your post, it was very well organized. :)
Your last lines are pretty harsh! But you are right that as humans we tend to be both gullible and greedy. Fortunately for us, greed not only works against us but also for us in science. Scientists can gain fame not only for big finds but also for falsifying big finds. This guarantees that all work will eventually be analyzed and scrutinized and tested beyond a shadow of a doubt. It may not be pretty, but it works, even if it takes 40 years.
ReplyDeleteCareful with the charge at Doyle as the perpetrator. There are a lot of candidates and little evidence conclusively that anyone in particular stands out as the guilty party.
Great post.
Amanda, the part of your post that said "many were embarrased to have believed such bs" made me laugh. Yes, that must have been quite embarrasing for the scientific community. Dawson is lucky he had passed away because I wonder if he would have suffered a fate similar to Galileo. Your post captured all the key points, the only thing I would have said different, is that someone outside of the research team should have tested the skull before it was presented to the scientific community. That would have maintained the objectivity. Fortunately today there are methods in place that maintain objectivity in science and I am sure a lot of those methods are in place because of the Piltdown case. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI like your post a lot but I would like to address the second paragraph. At the time the bones were found the dating methods you speak of were not around yet. They didn't become prominent until scientists decided to check for themselves if the bones were real or not and that is when this hoax hit the fan. I agree there should have been more analysis of them to at least assess their true coloring and such but who thinks of that at a time when carbon dating sounds as phony as a flying car?
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