Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe (54 page)

BOOK: Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe
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“Einstein’s Greatest Blunder” (Leahy),
241

Elliot, John,
158

Elliott, Arthur,
112

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome,
34
,
276
n

Empedocles,
160

Empty space,
208
,
247
–52,
255
,
257
,
262

Encyclopaedia Britannica
,
52
,
53

England,
67
,
120
,
129
–31,
148
,
158
,
161
,
203

Christian chronologists in,
61

industrial revolution in,
32

late-Victorian,
40

in World War II,
182

see also
Cambridge University; Oxford University

England, Philip,
95

Eniwetok Atoll, hydrogen bomb test on,
178

Equilibrium,
167
,
288
n

convective,
90

statistical,
169

unstable,
224

Escobar, Pablo,
243

Essay on the Principle of Population, An
(Malthus),
275
n

Eternal inflation,
161

Evolution,
1
,
8
–10,
12
–36,
114
,
202
–3

age of Earth and,
59
,
66
–67,
72
,
80
–81,
93

cosmic,
10
,
18
,
156
,
176
,
180
,
183
–84,
206
,
254
,
263
(
see also
Big bang theory; Expanding universe)

intelligent design versus,
18
,
26
,
30
,
80

mechanisms of,
see
Heredity; Natural selection

“Evolutionary Universe, The” (Gamow),
232

Expanding universe,
187
–98,
188
,
196
,
231

acceleration of,
224
,
226
–27,
252
–56

discovery of,
187
,
190
,
192
–93,
197
,
223
,
231

general relativity and,
199
,
244

see also
Big bang

“Expanding Universe, The” (Lemaître),
198

Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, The
(Darwin),
274
n

Extinction,
20
,
22
,
23
,
30
,
32
,
33
,
154

population size and,
40
–41

Eyring, Henry,
235

 

Faulkner, John,
179
,
213
–15

Federal Bureau of Investigation, US,
155

Fermi, Enrico,
129
,
168
–69,
294
n

Festinger, Leon,
96

Few and New Observations, upon the Book of Genesis, A
(Lightfoot),
61

Feynman, Richard,
226
,
281
n

Field equations,
224
–25,
230
,
231
,
247

Finlay-Freundlich, Erwin,
185

Finsbury Technical College,
281
n

Fischer, Bobby,
5

Fisher, R. C.,
179

Fisher, Ronald,
58

FitzGerald, George,
282
n

Focke, Wilhelm Olbers,
53

Fölsing, Albrecht,
235

Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de,
63

Forbes, James David,
71

Fourier, Joseph,
71
–72

Fowler, P. H.,
179

Fowler, Willy,
171
,
173
,
178
–82,
179
,
181
,
207

France,
129
,
131

in World War I,
158

Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria,
56

Franklin, Rosalind,
120
–21,
123
–26,
129
–30,
139
,
144
–45,
148
,
150
–52,
287
–88
nn

Freud, Sigmund,
7
,
217
–18

Fri
, Antonén,
56
–57

Friedmann, Aleksandr,
190
,
221
,
230
,
238
,
239
,
267

Frisch, Otto,
169

 

Galaxies,
25
,
211
,
221
,
251
,
257
,
259
–62

active,
209
,
213

and cosmological constant,
231
,
243
,
270

in expanding universe,
187
–92,
222
,
252
–54

in steady state universe,
184
–85,
198
–99,
201
–7

see also
Milky Way galaxy

Galen of Pergamum,
216

Galileo Galilei,
16
,
62
,
83
,
265
,
281
n

Gamow, George,
155
,
156
,
165
–66,
292
n
,
294
nn

big bang theory conceived by,
167
–68,
180
,
201
,
210
,
232

Einstein and,
232
–37,
241
,
267
,
300
n

Hoyle’s role in theory of formation of elements recognized by,
175
–76

Gann, Alexander,
124

Geikie, Archibald,
75
,
80

General relativity,
24
,
62
,
220
–29,
264
,
268
,
269

black holes predicted by,
263

and cosmological constant,
222
–25,
239
–41,
247
–49,
265

Eddington’s advocacy of,
162

in expanding universe,
189
–91,
222
,
244
,
252

space-time in,
189
,
220
–22,
225
–29

in steady state cosmology,
199
–200,
244
–45

Genetic drift,
33
–35

Genetics,
20
,
30
,
33

modern,
41
–42,
50

population,
66

see also
DNA: Heredity

Geological record,
21
,
66

Geological Society of Glasgow,
76

Geological Society of London,
82

Geological Survey of Scotland,
80

Geologist
,
275
n

George VI, King of England,
203

George Washington University,
155

Germany,
57
,
166

in World War II,
7
,
182
,
233

Gilbert, W. S.,
37

Glasgow University,
67
,
68
,
79

Goertzel, Ted and Ben,
286
n

Gold, Thomas “Tommy,”
182
–83,
186
–87,
198
,
199
,
201
–4,
206
,
209
,
295
n

Gondoliers
(Gilbert and Sullivan),
37

Gosling, Raymond,
124
,
126
,
144
,
148
,
150
–51

GPS satellites,
229

Gradualism,
18
,
20
–21,
58
,
66

Gravitation,
185
,
221
,
227
,
237
,
240

and Sun’s energy,
74
,
100
,
172
,
291
n

Newton’s law of,
43
,
226
,
246
–48

repulsive force of,
230
,
246
,
248

Greaves, William,
203

Greece, ancient,
229
,
242

mythology of,
6
,
7

Gribbin, J. R.,
179

Gribbin, M.,
179

Guggenheim Foundation,
134
,
141

Gurney, Ronald,
166

Guth, Alan,
218

 

Habitable zones,
261

Haldane, J. B. S.,
26
,
58

Hale, George Ellery,
227

Halley, Edmond,
206

Harding, R.,
179

Heaviside, Oliver,
282
n

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm,
225

Heisenberg, Werner,
281
n

Helmholtz, Hermann von,
74
,
100
,
164

Heredity

blending,
38
–44,
43
,
45
,
47
,
49
–50,
52
,
56

Mendelian heredity,
43
,
46
,
47
,
49
–58,
115

Herman, Robert,
168
,
210

Hershey, Alfred,
131

Hewish, Antony,
182

High-Z Supernova Search Team,
253

Hinduism, ancient,
60
,
278
n

Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Parculière
(Buffon),
65
,
278
n

Hoffmann, Hermann,
53

Home Is Where the Wind Blows
(Hoyle),
208
,
215

Homogeneity,
184
–85,
218
,
262

“Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Increasing Radius Accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra-Galactic Nebulae” (Lemaître),
191
,
195

Hooker, Joseph Dalton,
50

Houtermans, Fritz,
166

Hoyle, Barbara,
208

Hoyle, Fred,
10
,
156
,
172
–84,
179
,
181
,
198
–220,
209
,
219
,
269
–71,
293
nn
,
295
n

background of,
158
–59

big bang theory rejected by,
157
–58,
213
–15

and cosmological constant,
244
–45

idiosyncratic ideas on origin of life of,
216
–17,
219
,
298
n

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