On a Piece of Chalk by Thomas Henry Huxley
Synopsis: On a Piece of Chalk was a 1868 lecture by Thomas Henry Huxley to the working men of Norwich during a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. It was published as an essay in Macmillan’s Magazine in London later that year. The piece reconstructs the geological history of Britain from a simple piece of chalk and demonstrates science as “organized common sense”.
First Published: 1868 | ISBN-13: 978-1169487956
Mini-bio: Thomas Henry Huxley was an English biologist (comparative anatomist), known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. – Wikipedia
That the lessons of paleontology are now so much more widely appreciated than they were when Huxley drew them from a piece of carpenter’s chalk is in good measure a tribute to Huxley’s genius. We have much more factual knowledge than he had, but we have no better exemplar of the art of explaining in compelling and understandable terms what science is about, nor a more vigorous example of the scientist’s obligation to practice that art. – Dael Wolfle of the AAAS
Kirkus Reviews Book Review
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews Reflection ‘On Chalk’
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