Article ID: CBB001023997

Physics in the Galtonian Sciences of Heredity (2011)

unapi

Radick, Gregory (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 42
Pages: 129--138


Publication Date: 2011
Edition Details: Part of a special issue, “When Physics Meets Biology”
Language: English

Physics matters less than we once thought to the making of Mendel. But it matters more than we tend to recognize to the making of Mendelism. This paper charts the variety of ways in which diverse kinds of physics impinged upon the Galtonian tradition which formed Mendelism's matrix. The work of three Galtonians in particular is considered: Francis Galton himself, W. F. R. Weldon and William Bateson. One aim is to suggest that tracking influence from physics can bring into focus important but now little-remembered flexibilities in the Galtonian tradition. Another is to show by example why generalizations about what happens when `physics' meets `biology' require caution. Even for a single research tradition in Britain in the decades around 1900, these categories were large, containing multitudes.

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Article Poon, Wilson C. K. (2011) Interdisciplinary Reflections: The Case of Physics and Biology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (p. 115). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001023997/

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Authors & Contributors
Edwards, A. W. F.
Pence, Charles H.
Radick, Gregory
Ankeny, Rachel A.
Brush, Stephen G.
Fantini, Bernardino
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Journal of the History of Biology
Filosofia e História da Biologia
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Publishers
Cambridge University Press
Centre for Sciences and Humanities of the Institute of Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Trafford Publishing
University of Chicago Press
Concepts
Genetics
Mendelism; Mendelian inheritance
Heredity
Biology
Biometry
Probability and statistics
People
Bateson, William
Galton, Francis
Mendel, Gregor Johann
Pearson, Karl
Weldon, Walter Frank Raphael
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
17th century
18th century
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
Germany
United States
Institutions
Cambridge University
Royal Society of London
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