The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean · Sam Kean, Bleav

Savant Idiots

October 22, 2024·18 min·1 clip

Georges Cuvier wrote a 'cruel masterpiece' of a eulogy for Lamarck, using faint praise and caricatures to destroy his rival's scientific reputation forever.

This episode explores the bitter 19th-century feud between biologists Georges Cuvier and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck over evolution. Cuvier, using mummified ibis birds looted by Napoleon from Egypt, claimed to disprove Lamarck's theory, then cemented his victory by writing a devastatingly cruel eulogy that ruined Lamarck's reputation. The story reveals how scientific progress, politics, and personal rivalry intertwine.

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