Hopeful heretic--Richard Goldschmidt's genetic metaphors.
Richard Goldschmidt famously rejected the notion of atomic and corpuscular genes, arranged on the chromosome like beads-on-a-string. I provide an exegesis of Goldschmidt's intuition by analyzing his repeated and extensive use of metaphorical language and analogies in his attempts to convey his notion of the nature of the genetic material and specifically the significance of chromosomal pattern. The paper concentrates on Goldschmidt's use of metaphors in publications spanning 1940-1955.
Lamm
Ehud
E
The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
D005075:Biological Evolution; D002875:Chromosomes; D005823:Genetics / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D019365:Metaphor; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation