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SUMMARY:Marginalia in the 'bible' of pollen analysis - Kevin Edwards (Univ
 ersity of Aberdeen)
DTSTART:20191014T120000Z
DTEND:20191014T130000Z
UID:TALK131740@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jules Skotnes-Brown
DESCRIPTION:The annotation of texts and their study has a long history in 
 literature and the humanities\, but less so in science. This talk examines
  the marginalia within a copy of the first edition of _Text-book of modern
  pollen analysis_ – the 'bible' of the discipline of pollen analysis (pa
 lynology)\, published in 1950 by two botanists\, Knut Fægri (professor of
  botany in Bergen) and Johannes Iversen (palaeoecologist with the Danish G
 eological Survey).\n\nPollen analysis – the study of pollen grains incor
 porated in accumulating sediments – is the single most widely used techn
 ique in environmental reconstruction. The annotations are the work of 'Mr 
 Pollen Analysis'\, palynology's evangelist Gunnar Erdtman\, a former schoo
 lteacher who went on to develop one of the major research centres for paly
 nology in Stockholm. A further ingredient in a sometimes toxic mix is the 
 'founder' of palynology\, the Swedish geologist Lennart von Post\, who had
  approved of an introductory book by Erdtman and then went on to lavish co
 nsiderable praise on Fægri and Iversen's volume.\n\nThe marginalia displa
 y strong feelings\, even anger\, concerning the contents of the book. They
  are pedantic\, yet can often be shown to confront sloppy writing if not s
 loppy thinking. They certainly permit an insight into the perspectives of 
 a pioneering scientist as well as revealing a lack of inhibition which mig
 ht otherwise be hidden. They also reflect an adherence to traditional pala
 eontological approaches to plant systematics at a time when palynology was
  being becoming more statistically and conceptually rigorous\, addressing 
 ecological problems at scales from the local to the global.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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