Great Scientists Speak Again

By Richard Marshall Eakin

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520028767
• ISBN13: 9780520028760
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 119 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A novel way to get students interested in biology

While these are the words of famous biologists in history, a professor who is acting out their roles utters them. Eakin was a professor of biology and he was looking for ways to enliven his classes and increase the level of attention and interest. His solution was to don the appropriate costumes and deliver the lectures taking on the persona of the man who made the biological principle famous. The people he impersonates and the principles they made famous are: *) William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood. *) William Beaumont, who studied the gastric properties and actions of the stomach. *) Hans Spemann, who did pioneering work in the actions of the early embryo. *) Gregor Mendel, who discovered the fundamental laws of genetics. *) Louis Pasteur, who among other things, pioneered the germ theory of disease. *) Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of the evolution of new species as a consequence of natural selection. In this form, the lectures appear to be little more than basic lectures, although I am sure that if you witnessed the lecture, you would appreciate the different form of delivery. While some of that does come through, mainly through photographs, it is not enough to be truly impressive. Eakin is to be commended for his unconventional attempts to make science exciting; I would have been very interested to hear about any feedback he received regarding his unusual teaching tactics.