Common Clay

Henry Herbert Goddard (1866-1957), the man who made morons

H.H. Goddard's studies of the feeble-minded helped justify eugenics policies across the world... which is a tragedy because they junk science and lies.

Categories: Most Popular, Science & Nature, Series 8, The Marvels of Science

Tags: genetics New Jersey Presented by #13 pseudo-science racism

Published: September 6, 2021

Moron or Madman?

in which science is subordinated to politics

Trofim D. Lysenko (1898-1976) set back the study of biology in the Soviet Union for two generations -- but the lessons you should learn from his story are not the one scientists and philosophers have pushed.

Categories: Biography, History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Science & Nature, Series 7, The Marvels of Science

Tags: agriculture biology communism genetics Joseph Vissanorovich Stalin politics Presented by #13 pseudo-science Russia Trofim Denisovich Lysenko Union of Soviet Socialist Republics World War II

Published: April 26, 2021

“I’m the Naughty Boy.”

you love science — but probably not nearly as much as Bayard Peakes did

On July 14th, 1952 a mysterious man walked into the office of the American Physical Society and murdered secretary Eileen Fahey for no apparent reason.

Categories: Science & Nature, Series 5

Tags: Bayard Pfundtner Peakes crime New York, NY Presented by #13 pseudo-science The Constant World War II

Published: September 14, 2020