Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.54 (789 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0547577672 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 448 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-03-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
P. B. Sharp said The college professor we wish we had had!. They lived at the same time, Charles Darwin and Louis Agassiz, but Agassiz was a Creationist and of course, Darwin was the father of Evolution. Agassiz refused to countenance Darwin's theories. The two great men are an interesting contrast, as Darwin was an introvert who eschewed the limelight and was a martyr to frequent debilitating illness. Agassiz was a bon vivant who relished life but was also the victim of frequent illness, and who used ill. "Interesting - for those truly interested." according to Tanstaafl. I don't have the credentials to judge the quality of the research done by the author, but the book reads as if it is in keeping with the times and character of those times. Agassiz was very popular in that age of conflict in the worlds of science and sociology. All sorts of issues were being studied and argued. The modern age of scientific inquiry and rigor was trying to break free from the era of gentleman scientists and faith based science. Oft. Agassiz for the rest of us I have been very interested in Agassiz since I have been very interested in William James. Apart from reading works of James, The Metaphysical Club, Richardson's biography, the Dante Club - I forget, did that one mention Agassiz? How could it not? But as many books as I have read over the years the one big gap was that of Agassiz. Granted the author begins apologetically since Agassiz was amazingly hostile to Darwin and evolution, which as you ma
Charismatic and controversial, Louis Agassiz is our least known revolutionary—some fifty years after American independence, he became a founding father of American science. Invited to deliver a series of lectures in Boston, he never left, becoming the most famous scientist of his time. As an educator of enduring impact, he trained a generation of American scientists and science teachers, men and women alike. Irmscher adds unflinching evidence of Agassiz’s racist impulses and shows how avidly Americans looked to men of science to mediate race policy. The irrepressible Louis Agassiz, legendary at a young age for his work on mountain glaciers, focused his prodigious energies on the fauna of the New World. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, a Swiss immigrant took America by storm, launching American science as we know it. Irmscher sheds new light on Agassiz’s fascinating partnership with his brilliant wife, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, a science writer in her own right who would go on to become the first president of Radcliffe College. But there’s a dark side to the story. A fascinating life story, both inspiring and cautionary, for anyone interested i
Unfortunately, the talents that buoyed his popularity did not sustain his scientific credibility when he first attacked Darwin’s theory of evolution and then promulgated pseudoscientific theories of white racial superiority. A masterful portrait illuminating the tangled human dynamics of science. From Booklist *Starred Review* A budding nineteenth-century zoologist, Addison Verrill worshipfully regarded his Harvard mentor, Louis Agassiz, as “the great leader of the scientific world.” Aware of the low opinion scientists now hold of Agassiz, many twenty-first-century readers may find Verrill’s veneration for the Swiss-born naturalist inexplicable. With this compelling biography, Irmscher dispels the mystery, showing both how Agassiz established himself as America’s most prominent scientist and how he subsequently fell into professional ignominy. We also learn of Agassiz’s indefatigable field research as a biol