Philosophy
Charles Doolittle Walcott
March 31st, 1850 to February 9th, 1927
Mention must be made of this date for the birth of Charles Doolittle Walcott who was an American paleontologist and Director of the United States Geologic Service, and then Director of the Smithsonian Institution but best known for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. It was a unique discovery in that it contained many soft shell fossils heretofore unknown.
Bill Ashworth in the Linda Hall Library Newsletter wrote...
The Burgess Shale dates to just over 500 million years ago, in the Cambrian period, and the site is unusual in that it preserves the remains of many soft-bodied organisms, which are normally left out of the fossil record. These Cambrian animals were like no other that Walcott had ever seen, but he managed to sort them into the known phyla of jellyfish, worms, echinoderms, etc, and give them exotic names, like Wiwaxia, and Hallucigenia. Then, in the 1970s, a Canadian, Harry Whittington, re-examined the fossils and argued that most of the fauna of the Burgess Shale were actually entirely unknown organisms, experiments in evolution that left no descendants in the modern world, and not members of any existing phylum. Stephen Jay Gould, who had always maintained that evolution is highly contingent, and governed by chance and circumstance, used the example of the reinterpretation of the Burgess Shale as the centerpiece for a book, Wonderful Life (1989), which was close to a best-seller. In particular, Gould argued that , were we to rewind the evolutionary panorama and run it again, the line that produced vertebrates, and thus us, would in all likelihood never have survived, just like most of the animals of the Burgess Shale. Gould's view, in turn, was attacked by Simon Conway Morris (interestingly, one of the heroes of Gould's book), in The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals (1998).
Charles Doolittle Walcott
Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada
- Ricky Gervais, Jon Stewart And Panda Porn
When it comes to the debate between intelligent design creationism and evolution, the late Stephen J. Gould thought that instead of focusing on the marvels of biology, such as the eye, we should focus on the instances of poor biological architecture....
- Those Old Rocks
"In Glittering Gems, Reading Earth’s Story" by Carl Zimmer June 13th, 2013 The New York Times A jewelry store is an archive of the Earth. Every gem fixed to every ring or necklace was forged deep inside our planet, according to its own recipe of elements,...
- Squirreled Away...darwin's Fossils
"U.K. scientists find 'lost' Darwin fossils"January 17th, 2012USA TODAYBritish scientists have found scores of fossils the great evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years.Dr. Howard...
- Raymond C. Moore...crinoid Man
Raymond C. Moore February 20th, 1892 to April 16th, 1974 From left, Raymond C. Moore, William W. Hambleton, and Frank C. Foley. Raymond C. Moore was an American paleontologist [University of Kansas] known for his work on Paleozoic crinoids, bryozoans,...
- Invest In The Old...fossil, That Is
One of the two ammonite fossils being sold at the Natural History sale in Paris on April 7, 2009 What is the fascination for very old things to purchase and own? Is it a true interest in the science of the artifact? Is it for aesthetic reasons? Is it...
Philosophy
Charles Doolittle Walcott and the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada
Charles Doolittle Walcott March 31st, 1850 to February 9th, 1927
Mention must be made of this date for the birth of Charles Doolittle Walcott who was an American paleontologist and Director of the United States Geologic Service, and then Director of the Smithsonian Institution but best known for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. It was a unique discovery in that it contained many soft shell fossils heretofore unknown.
Bill Ashworth in the Linda Hall Library Newsletter wrote...
The Burgess Shale dates to just over 500 million years ago, in the Cambrian period, and the site is unusual in that it preserves the remains of many soft-bodied organisms, which are normally left out of the fossil record. These Cambrian animals were like no other that Walcott had ever seen, but he managed to sort them into the known phyla of jellyfish, worms, echinoderms, etc, and give them exotic names, like Wiwaxia, and Hallucigenia. Then, in the 1970s, a Canadian, Harry Whittington, re-examined the fossils and argued that most of the fauna of the Burgess Shale were actually entirely unknown organisms, experiments in evolution that left no descendants in the modern world, and not members of any existing phylum. Stephen Jay Gould, who had always maintained that evolution is highly contingent, and governed by chance and circumstance, used the example of the reinterpretation of the Burgess Shale as the centerpiece for a book, Wonderful Life (1989), which was close to a best-seller. In particular, Gould argued that , were we to rewind the evolutionary panorama and run it again, the line that produced vertebrates, and thus us, would in all likelihood never have survived, just like most of the animals of the Burgess Shale. Gould's view, in turn, was attacked by Simon Conway Morris (interestingly, one of the heroes of Gould's book), in The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals (1998).
Charles Doolittle Walcott
Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada
- Ricky Gervais, Jon Stewart And Panda Porn
When it comes to the debate between intelligent design creationism and evolution, the late Stephen J. Gould thought that instead of focusing on the marvels of biology, such as the eye, we should focus on the instances of poor biological architecture....
- Those Old Rocks
"In Glittering Gems, Reading Earth’s Story" by Carl Zimmer June 13th, 2013 The New York Times A jewelry store is an archive of the Earth. Every gem fixed to every ring or necklace was forged deep inside our planet, according to its own recipe of elements,...
- Squirreled Away...darwin's Fossils
"U.K. scientists find 'lost' Darwin fossils"January 17th, 2012USA TODAYBritish scientists have found scores of fossils the great evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years.Dr. Howard...
- Raymond C. Moore...crinoid Man
Raymond C. Moore February 20th, 1892 to April 16th, 1974 From left, Raymond C. Moore, William W. Hambleton, and Frank C. Foley. Raymond C. Moore was an American paleontologist [University of Kansas] known for his work on Paleozoic crinoids, bryozoans,...
- Invest In The Old...fossil, That Is
One of the two ammonite fossils being sold at the Natural History sale in Paris on April 7, 2009 What is the fascination for very old things to purchase and own? Is it a true interest in the science of the artifact? Is it for aesthetic reasons? Is it...