Albert Einstein's brain
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- | '''Scientific racism''' might refer to either [[obsolete scientific theories]] of the [[19th century]] or to historical and contemporary racist propaganda disguised as scientific research. However, both senses of the word sometimes overlap. | ||
- | ==See also== | + | The '''brain of Albert Einstein''' has been a subject of much research and speculation. [[Albert Einstein]]'s brain was removed within seven and a half hours of his death. Einstein's [[Human brain|brain]] has attracted attention because of Einstein's reputation as one of the foremost [[genius]]es of the 20th century, and apparent regularities or irregularities in the brain have been used to support various ideas about correlations in [[neuroanatomy]] with general or mathematical [[intelligence (trait)|intelligence]]. Scientific studies have suggested that, within Einstein's brain, regions involved in speech and language are smaller, while regions involved with numerical and spatial processing are larger. Other studies have suggested an increased number of [[glial cell]]s in Einstein's brain. |
- | * [[Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol]] (1847–1920, authored a booklet on "[[race and intelligence]]", inspirator of the [[Iron Guard]]) | + | |
- | * [[Albert Einstein's brain]] | + | |
- | * [[American Renaissance (magazine)]], a monthly racialist magazine | + | |
- | * [[Biological determinism]] | + | |
- | * [[Drapetomania]] | + | |
- | * [[Eugenics]] | + | |
- | * [[Institute for the Study of Academic Racism]] | + | |
- | * [[Mitochondrial DNA]] | + | |
- | * [[Nazism and race]] | + | |
- | * [[Pioneer Fund]] | + | |
- | * [[Psychometrics]] | + | |
- | * [[Race and genetics]] | + | |
- | * [[Race and intelligence]] | + | |
- | * [[Science Wars]] | + | |
- | * [[Melanin Theory]] | + | |
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- | ===In Carl Linnaeus== | + | |
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- | [[Carl Linnaeus]] (1707–1778), the Swedish physician, botanist, and zoologist, modified the established [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] bases of [[binomial nomenclature]] for fauna and flora, and also made a classification of humans into different subgroups. In the twelfth edition of ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' (1767), he labeled five "''[[Variety (botany)|varieties]]''" of human species. | + | |
- | Each one was described as possessing the following physiognomic characteristics ''"varying by culture and place"'': | + | |
- | * The ''Americanus'': red, choleric, righteous; black, straight, thick hair; stubborn, zealous, free; painting himself with red lines, and regulated by customs. | + | |
- | * The ''[[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeanus]]'': white, sanguine, browny; with abundant, long hair; blue eyes; gentle, acute, inventive; covered with close vestments; and governed by laws. | + | |
- | * The ''Asiaticus'': yellow, melancholic, stiff; black hair, dark eyes; severe, haughty, greedy; covered with loose clothing; and ruled by opinions. | + | |
- | * The ''Afer'' or ''Africanus'': black, phlegmatic, relaxed; black, frizzled hair; silky skin, flat nose, tumid lips; females without shame; mammary glands give milk abundantly; crafty, sly, lazy, cunning, lustful, careless; anoints himself with grease; and governed by caprice. | + | |
- | * The ''Monstrosus'' were mythologic humans which did not appear in the first editions of ''Systema Naturae.'' The sub-species included the "four-footed, mute, hairy" ''Homo feralis'' (''Feral man''); the animal-reared ''Juvenis lupinus hessensis'' (Hessian [[Feral child|wolf boy]]), the ''Juvenis hannoveranus'' ([[Peter the Wild Boy|Hannoverian boy]]), the ''Puella campanica'' ([[Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc|Wild-girl of Champagne]]), and the agile, but faint-hearted ''Homo monstrosus'' (''Monstrous man''): the [[Patagon|Patagonian giant]], the Dwarf of the Alps, and the [[monorchid]] [[Khoikhoi]] (Hottentot). In ''Amoenitates academicae'' (1763), Linnaeus presented the [[mythology|mythologic]] ''Homo anthropomorpha'' (''Anthropomorphic man''), humanoid creatures, such as the [[Troglodytae|troglodyte]], the [[satyr]], the [[Lernaean Hydra|hydra]], and the [[phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]], incorrectly identified as [[Ape|simian]] creatures. | + | |
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- | There are disagreements about the basis for Linnaeus' human taxa. On the one hand, his harshest critics say the classification was not only ethnocentric but seemed to be based upon skin-color. Renato G Mazzolini have argued the skin-colour based classification at its core were a white/black polarity, and that Linnaeus thinking became paradigmatic for later racist thinking. On the other hand, Quintyn (2010) points out that some authors believe the classification was based upon geographical distribution, being cartographically based, and not hierarchical. In the opinion of Kenneth A.R. Kennedy (1976), Linnaeus certainly considered his own culture better, but his motives for classification of human varieties were not race-centered. | + | |
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- | Kenneth A.R. Kennedy (1976), "Human Variation in Space and Time". Wm. C. Brown Company, p. 25. Kennedy writes that while ''"Linnaeus was the first to use biological traits as a basis for further subdivisions of the species into varieties. It would be unfair to ascribe racist motives to this effort."'' | + | |
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- | Paleontologist [[Stephen Jay Gould]] (1994) argued that the taxa was ''"not in the ranked order favored by most Europeans in the racist tradition"'', and that Linnaeus' division was influenced by the medical [[Humorism|theory of humors]] which said that a person's temperament may be related to biological fluids. In a 1997 essay, Gould added: "I don't mean to deny that Linnaeus held conventional beliefs about the superiority of his own European variety over others...nevertheless, and despite these implications, the overt geometry of Linnaeus' model is not linear or heirarchical." | + | |
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- | In an 2008 essay published by the [[Linnean Society of London]], Marie-Christine Skuncke interpreted Linnaeus' statements as reflecting a view that ''"Europeans' superiority resides in "[[culture]]"'', and that the decisive factor in Linnaeus' taxa was "culture", ''not'' race. Thus, regarding this topic, they consider Linnaeus' view as merely "[[eurocentric]]", arguing that Linnaeus never called for racist action, and did not use the word "race", which was only introduced later "by his French opponent [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Buffon]]". | + | |
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- | However, the anthropologist [[Ashley Montagu]], in his book ''Man's Most Dangerous Myth: the Fallacy of Race'', points out that Buffon, indeed "the enemy of all rigid classifications," was diametrically opposed to such broad categories and did not use the word "race" to describe them. "It was quite clear, after reading Buffon, that he uses the word in no narrowly defined, but rather in a general sense," wrote Montagu, pointing out that Buffon did employ the French word ''la race'', but as a collective term for whatever population he happened to be discussing at the time: for instance, "The Danish, Swedish, and Muscovite Laplanders, the inhabitants of Nova-Zembla, the Borandians, the Samoiedes, the Ostiacks of the old continent, the Greenlanders, and the savages to the north of the Esquimaux Indians, of the new continent, appear to be of one common race." | + | |
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- | Scholar Stanley A. Rice agrees that Linnaeus' classification was not meant to "imply a hierarchy of humanness or superiority"; although modern critics see that his classification was obviously [[stereotype]]d, and erroneous for having included [[anthropological]], non-biological features such as customs or [[tradition]]s. | + | |
+ | ==See also== | ||
+ | *''[[Relics: Einstein's Brain]]'', a 1994 documentary by Kevin Hull | ||
+ | * ''Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain'', a 2001 book by [[Carolyn Abraham]] | ||
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The brain of Albert Einstein has been a subject of much research and speculation. Albert Einstein's brain was removed within seven and a half hours of his death. Einstein's brain has attracted attention because of Einstein's reputation as one of the foremost geniuses of the 20th century, and apparent regularities or irregularities in the brain have been used to support various ideas about correlations in neuroanatomy with general or mathematical intelligence. Scientific studies have suggested that, within Einstein's brain, regions involved in speech and language are smaller, while regions involved with numerical and spatial processing are larger. Other studies have suggested an increased number of glial cells in Einstein's brain.
See also
- Relics: Einstein's Brain, a 1994 documentary by Kevin Hull
- Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain, a 2001 book by Carolyn Abraham