Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology And Politics In Science

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In Discarded Science, John Grant took a fascinating look at all the things science got wrong through the centuries. But at least those were honest mistakes. Grant’s equally absorbing follow-up examines something more sinister: deliberate hoaxes and frauds. He takes us through a rogue’s gallery that features faked creatures, palaeontological trickery, false psychics, and miracle cures that aren’t so miraculous. See how ideology, religion, and politics have imposed themselves on science throughout history, from the Catholic Church’s influence on cosmology to Nazi racist pseudoscience to the Bush Administration’s attempt to deny climate change. The themes, while entertaining as ever, are serious and timely.

E-Book Content

CORRUPTED SCIENCE JOHN GRANT CORRUPTED SCIENCE JOHN GRANT Brought to you by KeVkRaY DEDICATION For Keith Barnett (1938–2006), the best big bro any little bro could have hoped for. Oh, Keith, that you might have lived to see this book complete . . . and to find my errors in it. Acknowledgements First of all, again The Spammers: Randy M. Dannenfelser, Bob Eggleton, Gregory Frost, Neil Greenberg, Jael, Stuart Jaffe, Karl Kofoed, Todd Lockwood, Aaron McLellan, Lynn Perkins, Ray Ridenour, Tim Sullivan and Greg Uchrin; between them they sent me more material than I could possibly hope to use. Ian Johnson likewise sent me items of note; thanks, ol’ buddy. John Dahlgren graciously permitted me a month’s-long extension on another deadline so I could finish this. Cameron Brown had faith in the project and commissioned the book, while Malcolm Couch created, yet again, an excellent design; the level of my gratitude to both is embarrassing. Lynn Perkins, out of the goodness of her heart, gave me the astonishingly helpful present of a subscription to New Scientist. Joyce Barnett gave me an extremely valuable volume from the collection of her late husband, my brother Keith; evengreater was the gift thereby of his involvement with this book. Pamela D. Scoville monitored various newspapers and online sources for new data I might have missed, but far more significantly continued living with the general intolerability of the husband who was writing this book: Je t’adore, ma cherie. A few paragraphs of this book first appeared in different form in my A Directory of Discarded Ideas (1981) and Discarded Science (2006). CORRUPTED SCIENCE Published by Facts, Figures & Fun, an imprint of AAPPL Artists’ and Photographers’ Press Ltd. Church Farm House, Wisley, Surrey GU23 6QL [email protected] www.ffnf.co.uk [email protected] www.aappl.com Sales and Distribution UK and export: Turnaround Publisher Services Ltd. [email protected] USA and Canada: Sterling Publishing Inc. [email protected] Australia & New Zealand: Peribo Pty. [email protected] South Africa: Trinity Books. [email protected] Copyright © AAPPL Artists’ and Photographers’ Press Ltd 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
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