Piltdown Hoax
In 1912, in the small village of Piltdown, Charles Dawson was digging in a gravel pit and came upon some ancient human bones. He invited one of the best geologists in England, Arthur Smith Woodward and Pierre Teilhard soon join Dawson to investigate the findings together. The findings showed a cross between a human and a monkey which would prove a stage of evolution in between humans and monkeys. When Woodward made the findings known this had a big effect on the scientific community, for example, it proved Arthur Keith's theory of humans having big brains before they walked upright. Scientists in England rejoiced because they too have ancient human fossils just like the rest of the great countries.
Every great scientist is human and we all make mistakes. The mistake they made at Piltdown was they were only looking for remains of a human at a different stage in evolution. They did not question what they were finding.
They discovered during the experimentation phase of the scientific process using several instruments that it was a hoax. After WWII scientists invented a fluorine dating test where they would measure the amount of fluorine in the object and be able to calculate how old it was. They discovered that the remains were only 100,000 years old, the material had all been stained, and the teeth had been filed down.
It would be possible to remove the human factor by only using computers, but it would not benefit the scientific community. Even though computers would not make mistakes you cant beat a humans intuition, and gut feelings about things. If there was one thing we could learn from the Piltdown incident it would be you cant always trust your superiors for evidence.
Hey Brock,
ReplyDeleteYour right, we cant always trust our superiors. Thankfully now with the scientific method we are able to test and retest scientist works/findings. Its a bummer that Dawson set back science for so many years.
I agree. We're all humans and we do mistakes. Even the greatest scientist out there. Also, using only computers wouldn't be the best choice so youre right when you said it wouldnt really benefit the scientific community.
ReplyDeleteHey Brock, yeah it would be impossible to remove human factor by only using computers, humans played the biggest role in science and the way humans discover things and analyze it after the computer can't do it, Newton discovered gravity after passing several levels and it started when an apple fell on his head, he first found out that these is a force that changes the speed or direction of a moving object, then after several experiments he discovered gravity, and this is only one example, then how would we remove humans factor from the scientific field !
ReplyDelete"The findings showed a cross between a human and a monkey which would prove a stage of evolution in between humans and monkeys."
ReplyDeleteNo, this was an archaic hominid, a human ancestor. There is no stage of evolution between human and monkeys. There was a common ancestor of humans and monkeys, but that was about 6 million years ago. Make sure you understand the difference between these to views of human evolution. One is correct and one isn't.
"...it proved Arthur Keith's theory of humans having big brains before they walked upright."
Now THAT is the significance of this find. Had it been valid, that is what it would have taught us about human evolution and it has nothing to do with monkeys, correct?
A little more detail on the actual bones found for this fossil would have painted a more complete picture.
The question for the second section didn't ask about "mistakes". It asked about faults. So what faults were involved that provided the motivation for the culprits to create the hoax to begin with? Perhaps greed or ambition? And how do you explain the reaction of the scientific community? Why did they accept this find so quickly with so little analysis and skepticism? Don't they bear some responsibility for this hoax as well? What faults are involved there?
Very good explanation of the fluorine analysis. Besides new technology, what about the process of science itself helped to uncover the hoax? Why were scientists still analyzing this fossil some 40 years after it's discovery?
"Even though computers would not make mistakes you cant beat a humans intuition, and gut feelings about things."
Exactly. Well put.
Can you expand on your life lesson? It needs to be explained more fully.