J.B.S. Haldane trivia, evolutionary biologist and interesting character

[Martin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane

1892-1964

born into Scottish aristocrat family

fought in WWI (officer in Black Watch, promoted)

during WWI, his politics became socialist, in common with many other idealistic young people of his generation.

 

Wikipedia:" ..Whilst in the army, he became a socialist, writing If I live to see an England in which socialism has made the occupation of a grocer as honourable as that of a soldier, I shall die happy...."

Communist Party member between 1937 and 1950.

I expect he broke with Communist Party because disillusioned with Soviet Union under Stalin and disgusted by the phony biology of Lysenko which Stalin protected. Also Soviet Union had been an ally of Western Democracies but around 1950 the Cold War started. Many of that generation turned away from Communism at about that time. He may well have kept his socialist convictions and values (I don't know and see nothing about this in the Wiki article.)

 

Haldane was a brilliant chemist, biochemist, geneticist and one of the founders of population genetics.

 

Does the fact that he was a Communist between 1937 and 1950 affect your attitude towards the science of evolutionary biology?

 

Haldane was rather witty. He was good with one-liners and could get across scientific ideas in an entertaining way. The Wikipedia article accuses him of being the Isaac Asimov or Richard Dawkins of his day.

 

Does the fact that he was witty, or a Scottish aristocrat, or fought in the European trench war of 1914-1918, affect how you feel about evolutionary biology?

 

I am trying to decide these questions for myself. i think that the details of Haldane's life are largely IRRELEVANT to his scientific discovery and views. On the other hand, he was an INTERESTING CHARACTER, and I value this. Also I suspect that the possibly irrelevant details of his life and character are apt to be more problematical if SUPPRESSED than if they are openly aired.

 

And also I have a personal bias, which I cannot entirely justify, in favor of CANTANKEROUS men of science. Other things equal, I tend to be in favor of the square pegs who challenge consensus and authority. I try not to give undue weight to this, since it is an irrational prejudice.

 

I find, on balance, that knowing of Haldane's character is completely irrelevant to my esteem for evolutionary biology, which I would appreciate just as much had he never lived. On the other hand I would rather know a little about the people who developed that branch of science than not know anything. So I am not averse to hearing HALDANE TRIVIA.

 

the most famous Haldane trivium is what he is supposed to have said about God liking beetles. (Because He made so many of them----there are a great many different species of beetle.)

[ecoli]

Why would those things effect our opinions about evolutionary biology?

[Martin]

“It is my supposition that the Universe in not only queerer than we imagine, is queerer than we can imagine.”

 

 

 

“Until politics are a branch of science we shall do well to regard political and social reforms as experiments rather than short-cuts to the millennium.”

 

 

 

“If human beings could be propagated by cutting, like apple trees, aristocracy would be biologically sound.”

 

 

 

“I have never yet met a healthy person who worried very much about his health, or a really good person who worried much about his own soul.”

[Martin]

Why would those things effect our opinions about evolutionary biology?

 

I don't know

 

DO they, in your case?

 

===========more quotes=================

 

The wise man regulates his conduct by the theories both of religion and science. But he regards these theories not as statements of ultimate fact but as art-forms.

 

While I do not suggest that humanity will ever be able to dispense with its martyrs, I cannot avoid the suspicion that with a little more thought and a little less belief their number may be substantially reduced.

 

If one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of his creation it would appear that God has a special fondness for stars and beetles.

[PhDP]

I expect he broke with Communist Party because disillusioned with Soviet Union under Stalin and disgusted by the phony biology of Lysenko which Stalin protected. Also Soviet Union had been an ally of Western Democracies but around 1950 the Cold War started. Many of that generation turned away from Communism at about that time. He may well have kept his socialist convictions and values (I don't know and see nothing about this in the Wiki article.)

 

You're right, Haldane and Maynard Smith (a student of Haldane) got out of the communist party in the around the 50s because of the authoritarian soviet union. Haldane was from the left, Fisher from the right, yet they both worked on the same project.

 

Haldane would certainly made my list of the top 20 mind in evolutionary biology, I've read a very convincing argument that his book "the causes of evolution", marked the birth of the modern synthesis (instead of Fisher's book), which show how important he is to the history of evolution.

[ecoli]

I don't know

 

DO they' date=' in your case?[/quote']

 

No, a person's political opinion doesn't change what they do as a scientist.