Mendel at the sesquicentennial of 'Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden' (1865): the root of the biggest legend in the history of science
- Author
- Koen Tanghe (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- In 1965, Mendel was still celebrated as the undisputed founder of genetics. In the ensuing 50 years, scholars questioned and undermined this traditional interpretation of his experiments with hybrid plants, without, however, managing to replace it: at the sesquicentennial of the presentation of his 'Versuche' (1865), the Moravian friar remains, to a vast majority, the heroic Father of genetics or at least some kind of geneticist. This exceptionally inert myth is nourished by ontological intuitions but can only continue to flourish, thanks to a long-standing conceptual void in the historiography of biology. It is merely a symptom of this more fundamental problem. 'Historians of science are trained and paid to replace simple stories (...).' (1)
- Keywords
- myth, Mendel, cultural attractor, Weismann, continuity of the germplasm, conceptual revolution, EVOLUTION, LAWS
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-7036997
- MLA
- Tanghe, Koen. “Mendel at the Sesquicentennial of ‘Versuche Uber Pflanzen-Hybriden’ (1865): The Root of the Biggest Legend in the History of Science.” ENDEAVOUR, edited by John Waller, vol. 39, no. 2, Elsevier, 2015, pp. 106–15, doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2015.05.004.
- APA
- Tanghe, K. (2015). Mendel at the sesquicentennial of “Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden” (1865): the root of the biggest legend in the history of science. ENDEAVOUR, 39(2), 106–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2015.05.004
- Chicago author-date
- Tanghe, Koen. 2015. “Mendel at the Sesquicentennial of ‘Versuche Uber Pflanzen-Hybriden’ (1865): The Root of the Biggest Legend in the History of Science.” Edited by John Waller. ENDEAVOUR 39 (2): 106–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2015.05.004.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Tanghe, Koen. 2015. “Mendel at the Sesquicentennial of ‘Versuche Uber Pflanzen-Hybriden’ (1865): The Root of the Biggest Legend in the History of Science.” Ed by. John Waller. ENDEAVOUR 39 (2): 106–115. doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2015.05.004.
- Vancouver
- 1.Tanghe K. Mendel at the sesquicentennial of “Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden” (1865): the root of the biggest legend in the history of science. Waller J, editor. ENDEAVOUR. 2015;39(2):106–15.
- IEEE
- [1]K. Tanghe, “Mendel at the sesquicentennial of ‘Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden’ (1865): the root of the biggest legend in the history of science,” ENDEAVOUR, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 106–115, 2015.
@article{7036997,
abstract = {{In 1965, Mendel was still celebrated as the undisputed founder of genetics. In the ensuing 50 years, scholars questioned and undermined this traditional interpretation of his experiments with hybrid plants, without, however, managing to replace it: at the sesquicentennial of the presentation of his 'Versuche' (1865), the Moravian friar remains, to a vast majority, the heroic Father of genetics or at least some kind of geneticist. This exceptionally inert myth is nourished by ontological intuitions but can only continue to flourish, thanks to a long-standing conceptual void in the historiography of biology. It is merely a symptom of this more fundamental problem.
'Historians of science are trained and paid to replace simple stories (...).' (1)}},
author = {{Tanghe, Koen}},
editor = {{Waller, John}},
issn = {{0160-9327}},
journal = {{ENDEAVOUR}},
keywords = {{myth,Mendel,cultural attractor,Weismann,continuity of the germplasm,conceptual revolution,EVOLUTION,LAWS}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{106--115}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
title = {{Mendel at the sesquicentennial of 'Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden' (1865): the root of the biggest legend in the history of science}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2015.05.004}},
volume = {{39}},
year = {{2015}},
}
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