1. The Piltdown hoax occured in 1912 in the village of Piltdown, England. Charles Dawson made a claim that he had discovered what seemed to be the ancient remain of a human skull. With the assistance of Arthur Smith Woodward and few other scientists they began excavating around these remains. They managed to discover a few other remains during these excavations. These were said to be the first ancient human remains that were found in the country of England. The fossil resembled that of an ape like skull and was said to be a huge missing link in the connection between humans and apes. The scientific community in England was filled with great excitement and curiosity. They were mostly excited because they believed that their country had what seemed to be the oldest discovered human remains. Years after the Piltdown discovery scientists had developed better methods of dating fossils. The Piltdown fossils were tested for dated accuracy and it was then discovered that the fossil was actually about 100 years old and that of an Orangutan. The scientific community was destroyed, not only because of the find but also that there was significant evidence that the fossils had been tampered with. Someone had actually filed down and stained pieces of the fossils to make them appear older and resemble that of humans. They felt betrayed that their colleagues that were held with such high revere, would have the audacity to try and fool the scientific community.
2. The scientist were guilty of being gulllible and believing their colleagues at the time without testing these fossils further. This impacts the scientific process significantly because it is based on the ability to test things over and over until it is proven to be accurate. Scientists can not believe the claims of other people without there being documented tests to prove the accuracy and validity of someone's claims.
3. Because of the Piltdown hoax the scientific community has learned to believe their on tests and not the claims of other people. Science is always finding new ways of doing things better such as the discovery of the flourine test that proved the remains to be a hoax. The flourine test was used to provide a more accurate reading of the age of the fossils. The microscope also proved to be useful in viewing the marks that were found on the remains.
4. It is not possible to remove the human factor from science. Science is based on the curiosity of the mind. Without humans the curiosity that makes scientist wonder how things came to be would not exist. As I was coming up with this answer I came to realize that human factor in no way could be completeley removed from the scientic process.
5. The life lesson is to make sure you get your answers from verified sources. In science one cannot go by instinct or claims alone. It has to find methods of testing the validity of these claims. Someone along time ago once said "I won't believe it until I see it with my own to eyes."
Good synopsis, though the skull was actually in two primary pieces, one of which was a portion of a jaw bone. The jaw was the one that was orang in origin. The skull was human. Ages were different as well.
ReplyDeleteCan we lay all the blame on the door of the other scientists? How about the individual(s) who carried out the hoaxes to begin with? What other external factors were going, politically, that might have influenced this occurrence?
I agree that curiosity would be a key factor lost without the human influence on science? Where would our questions come from?
Good post.
i guess you are correct as well. Not all the blame can be solely put on the people that believed the hoax. I guess it could go 50/50 with the rest of the blame on the people who actually performed this hoax. I guess I will blame it on a persons ability to easily be fooled and the people who have the need for becoming recognized and respected at any cost.
ReplyDeleteIt was a failure on many levels. That is what made it so horrifying from a scientific perspective, that so many people would bend to current pressures to produce an English fossil. Then again, it was reassuring that the scientific process came through to uncover the hoax, even if it was 40 year later!
DeleteThank you for the response.
Great synopsis of the piltdown hoax. I agree with you that the lessons from this historical event is that people should always make sure their sources are verified and tested to make sure they are correct. Discovering new things can be exciting, but if it turns out to be falsified, it is worse than if the discoverers had found it out for themselves.
DeleteIt's amazing that the scientific community was so wrapped up in their pride that they believed a man who was an amateur. He did have at least one expert working with him and I suppose that is why they took him at his word, though how gullible was the professional? It does make one stop and question what we believe from professionals! I agree that there is no way to take the human element completely out of science. There are no answers without questions and who would ask them without humans?!
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