Not all bad: Rehabilitating phrenology in museums
Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Phillipson, Tacye
Date published
July 11, 2024
Abstract
History is, epigrammatically, written by the winners. Science is too. At the heart of the scientific method is the discarding of hypotheses and ideas which are disproven, leaving the winners, until they are themselves perhaps disproven or superseded. The disadvantages of a neglect of the stories and viewpoints of the “losers” in history are manifest and acknowledged, and considerable effort is now devoted to reducing the imbalance. Less focus has so far been devoted to the way in which the many disproved or superseded hypotheses of science are neglected or negatively portrayed, especially when the history of science is talked about by scientists, and the implications of this for the current field of science.
Series name
Scientific Instruments and Collections
Book title
Failed Historical Scientific Instruments
Editor
Schechner, Sara J
Sofia, Talas
Volume
10
Pagination
77-83
Publisher
Brill
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright