J. B. S. Haldane

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J. B. S. Haldane bigraphy, stories - Geneticist and evolutionary biologist

J. B. S. Haldane : biography

5 November 1892 – 1 December 1964

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS (5 November 1892 – 1 December 1964), known as Jack (but who used ‘J.B.S.’ in his printed works), was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist generally credited with a central role in the development of neo-Darwinian thinking (popularized by Richard Dawkins’ 1976 work titled The Selfish Gene). A staunch Marxist, he was critical of Britain’s role in the Suez Crisis, and chose to leave Britain, move to India and become an Indian citizen. He was also one of the founders (along with Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright) of population genetics.

Publications

  • Daedalus; or, Science and the Future (1924), E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., a paper read to the Heretics, Cambridge, on 4 February 1923
    • second edition (1928), London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.
    • see also Haldane’s Daedalus Revisited (1995), ed. with an introd. by Krishna R. Dronamraju, Foreword by Joshua Lederberg; with essays by M.F. Perutz, Freeman Dyson, Yaron Ezrahi, Ernst Mayr,Elof Axel Carlson, D.J. Weatherall, N.A. Mitchison and the editor. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854846-X
  • A Mathematical Theory of Natural and Artificial Selection, a series of papers beginning in 1924
  • G.E. Briggs and J.B.S. Haldane (1925). A note on the kinetics of enzyme action, Biochem. J., 19: 338–339
  • Callinicus: A Defence of Chemical Warfare (1925), E. P. Dutton
  • Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1928), Harper and Brothers. 1937 edition London: Chatto & Windus. 2001 edition Transaction Publishers: ISBN 0-7658-0715-7 (includes On Being the Right Size)
  • Animal Biology (1929) Oxford: Clarendon
  • Enzymes (1930), MIT Press 1965 edition with new preface by the author written just prior to his death: ISBN 0-262-58003-9
  • The Inequality of Man, and Other Essays (1932)
  • The Causes of Evolution (1932)
  • Science and Human Life (1933), Harper and Brothers, Ayer Co. reprint: ISBN 0-8369-2161-5
  • Science and the Supernatural: Correspondence with Arnold Lunn (1935), Sheed & Ward, Inc,
  • Fact and Faith (1934), Watts Thinker’s Library
  • "A Contribution to the Theory of Price Fluctuations", The Review of Economic Studies, 1:3, 186-195 (1934).
  • My Friend Mr Leakey (1937), Vigyan Prasar 2001 reprint: ISBN 81-7480-029-8
  • Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) (1938), Victor Gollancz
  • Marxist Philosophy and the Sciences (1939), Random House, Ayer Co. reprint: ISBN 0-8369-1137-7
  • Science and Everyday Life (1940), Macmillan, 1941 Penguin, Ayer Co. 1975 reprint: ISBN 0-405-06595-7
  • Science in Peace and War (1941), Lawrence & Wishart Ltd
  • New Paths in Genetics (1941), George Allen & Unwin
  • Heredity & Politics (1943), George Allen & Unwin
  • Why Professional Workers should be Communists (1945), London: Communist Party (of Great Britain) In this four page pamphlet, Haldane contends that Communism should appeal to professionals because Marxism is based on the scientific method and Communists hold scientists as important; Haldane subsequently disavowed this position
  • Adventures of a Biologist (1947)
  • Science Advances (1947), Macmillan
  • What is Life? (1947), Boni and Gaer, 1949 edition: Lindsay Drummond
  • Everything Has a History (1951), Allen & Unwin—Includes "Auld Hornie, F.R.S."; C.S. Lewis’s "Reply to Professor Haldane" is available in "On Stories and Other Essays on Literature," ed. Walter Hooper (1982), ISBN 0-15-602768-2.
  • "The Origins of Life", New Biology, 16, 12–27 (1954). Suggests that an alternative biochemistry could be based on liquid ammonia.
  • "Origin of Man", Nature, 176, 169 (1955)
  • "Cancer’s a Funny Thing", New Statesman, 21 February 1964