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Re: David Marjanovic



Phil Bigelow wrote:

Then of course, there are people like the famed astronomer Fred Whipple,
who considered Archaeopteryx's plumage to be a hoaxer's creation,

Don't you mean astronomer Fred Hoyle, not Fred Whipple?

Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe (1986). "Archaeopteryx: The Primordial Bird." A Case of Fossil Forgery, Christopher Davies Publishers, Swansea.

Says John Maddox (2001; Nature 413: 270): "Fred Hoyle, who died on 20 August at the age of 86, was the most imaginative of men, a kind of Leonardo. He made monumental contributions to astrophysics and cosmology, and was a brilliant popularizer (and science-fiction writer and occasional playwright). He also put his name to much rubbish and was embroiled in controversy for most of his life. [snip] The most egregious example was the allegation that the British Natural History Museum's specimen of _Archaeopteryx_ is a forgery. Even his best friends were at a loss to know why he behaved in such a way in this and other instances."

(Incidentally, it was Hoyle who coined the term "Big Bang", as a sarcarstic aside in a 1952 broadcast.)

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