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Author Topic:   What got into Hoyle?
Percy
Member
Posts: 22394
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 1 of 4 (397568)
04-26-2007 3:59 PM


Fred Hoyle was on track to win the Noble prize for his work on stellar evolution when he suddenly began exhibiting questionable scientific judgement. It wasn't the positions he was taking so much as his justifications for supporting them, and I'm talking, of course, about his support for steady state theory in cosmology and his anti-evolution positions in biology.
I've read one biography of Hoyle, and it gave short shrift to his reasons and motivations for supporting these positions, other than to say that he was being true to his belief that one should follow the evidence wherever it leads. But whatever he was doing, it certainly couldn't be described as following the evidence. What was going on in his head? Does anyone know?
I've wondered this for a long time, and Hoot's raising of the issue of Hoyle's and Wickramasinghe's ideas about abiogenesis in another thread reminded me that I still don't have a satisfactory answer. Anyone come across any good explanations?
--Percy

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by AdminWounded, posted 04-26-2007 4:30 PM Percy has replied

AdminWounded
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 4 (397576)
04-26-2007 4:30 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Percy
04-26-2007 3:59 PM


Where were you thinking of for this, 'OOL', 'is it Science' or somewhere else?
TTFN,
AW

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Percy, posted 04-26-2007 3:59 PM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by Percy, posted 04-26-2007 8:27 PM AdminWounded has not replied

Percy
Member
Posts: 22394
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 3 of 4 (397606)
04-26-2007 8:27 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by AdminWounded
04-26-2007 4:30 PM


I think [forum=-11] might be best, since it's related to the way he pursued his science.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 2 by AdminWounded, posted 04-26-2007 4:30 PM AdminWounded has not replied

AdminNosy
Administrator
Posts: 4754
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Joined: 11-11-2003


Message 4 of 4 (397609)
04-26-2007 8:29 PM


Thread copied to the What got into Hoyle? thread in the Is It Science? forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

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