Slanted evidence: the tortuous path from skull measurements to theories of racial superiority
Article Abstract:
The concept of primitive character being indicated by a facial angle running obliquely backwards from protruding jaw to receding forehead emerged in the 19th century. Facial angle had already been established as a measure of beauty, particularly in the publications of Dutch doctor Petrus Camper, who tabulated and illustrated progression of facial angles. One repercussion of the Darwinian revolution for craniometry was to arrange Camper's sequence of angles in a temporal succession. His non-racist characterizations came to be associated with degrees of evolutionary maturity.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Hesse-Honegger's hand-work
Article Abstract:
Zoological illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger plays a significant role in drawing attention to deformities in insects. She has systematically mapped and counted the occurrence of deformed specimens, and has worked in locations including Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Three Mile Island, PA. All her watercolours have significant implications for matters of objective judgement.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: The force of fluctuations. Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces. Under Jupiter's pulsing skin
- Abstracts: Cancer and the knockout mouse. Bumps on the road to immortality. Capping off the ends
- Abstracts: Carbon isotope evidence for early life. Evolution of extreme specialization within a lineage of ectomycorrhizal epiparasites
- Abstracts: A multimodal language region in the ventral visual pathway. Moving ahead through differential visual latency. Common reference frame for neural coding of translational and rotational optic flow
- Abstracts: Japan okays test-tube baby gene tests. Edgy Japan wants a new reconnaissance satellite. Japan may require labels on genetic food