Article ID: CBB000850046

Eozoön: Debunking the Dawn Animal (2007)

unapi

Discovered in the nineteenth century by the Canadian Geological Survey, the Eozoön canadense fossil, or ‘dawn animal of Canada’, created a sensation in the geological community. Only a few initially challenged its status as a fossil organism, including two professors in the remote Irish town of Galway. These men claimed that Eozoön was nothing more than a mineral formation and did not represent the discovery of the primordial organism. Supporters of Eozoön closed ranks and a heated debate soon broke out in a range of periodicals. The story of Eozoön lays bare the construction of scientific credibility, a process that was threatened in the second half of the nineteenth century by the proliferation of popular science.

...More

Description On the debate over the nature of the fossil discovered in Canada and its relation to science in the popular periodical press.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000850046/

Similar Citations

Chapter Stefano Dominici; Elisabetta Cioppi; (2018)
All is not lost: History from fossils and catalogues at the Museum of Natural History, University of Florence (/isis/citation/CBB784047995/)

Book Freeman, Michael J.; (2004)
Victorians and the Prehistoric: Tracks to a Lost World (/isis/citation/CBB000520147/)

Article Brandão, José Manuel; (2013)
Paul Deshayes (1796--1875) e a Comissão Geológica do Reino: uma colaboração com o Estado português (/isis/citation/CBB001420669/)

Article Barry J. Cooper; James B. Jago; (2018)
Robert Bedford (1874-1951), the Kyancutta Museum, and a unique contribution to international geology (/isis/citation/CBB114084262/)

Article Newell, Julie R.; (2005)
The Troost Crinoids: Lost, Found, and (Finally) Published (/isis/citation/CBB000630866/)

Article Thomas Sharpe; (2022)
Henri De la Beche's 1829-1830 litograph, duria antiquior (/isis/citation/CBB971607561/)

Book Tom Sharpe; (2021)
The Fossil Woman: A Life of Mary Anning (/isis/citation/CBB900889395/)

Thesis Daniel Francis Zizzamia; (2015)
Making the West Malleable: Coal, Geohistory, and Western Expansion, 1800–1920 (/isis/citation/CBB915846070/)

Article C.G.M. Paxton; D. Naish; (2019)
Did Nineteenth Century marine vertebrate fossil discoveries influence sea serpent reports? (/isis/citation/CBB528039835/)

Article R. Bruce Mcmillan; (2023)
Albert Koch’s Hydrarchos: A Hoax or A Bona Fide Collection of Bones (/isis/citation/CBB354774746/)

Article Edward P.F. Rose; (2021)
British military contributions to the geology of Malta, Part 1: Nineteenth century (/isis/citation/CBB294782668/)

Chapter Patricia Coorough Burke; Peter M. Sheehan; (2018)
Museums at the intersection of science and citizen: An example from a Silurian reef (/isis/citation/CBB571400487/)

Chapter Christian Koeberl; Franz Brandstätter; Mathias Harzhauser; Christa Riedl-Dorn; (2018)
History and importance of the geoscience collections at the Natural History Museum Vienna (/isis/citation/CBB624678361/)

Chapter Lauren Neitzke-Adamo; A.J. Blandford; Julia Criscione; Richard K. Olsson; Erika Gorder; (2018)
The Rutgers Geology Museum: America’s first geology museum and the past 200 years of geoscience education (/isis/citation/CBB701025048/)

Authors & Contributors
McMillan, R. Bruce
Edward P.F. Rose
Mathias Harzhauser
Charles G.M. Paxton
Tom Sharpe
Richard K. Olsson
Concepts
Paleontology
Geology
Fossils
Earth sciences
Science and society
Popularization
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
Pleistocene
21st century
18th century
Places
United States
Great Britain
France
Australia
Malta
England
Institutions
Rutgers University
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment