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Description
This programme is the story of how the branch of science known as genetics started. It features the contribution of two men in particular: Gregor Mendel (1822-84) and William Bateson (1861-1926). T...here are many demonstrations including Mendel's classic experiments on the heredity of peas - where short plants are crossed with tall, and wrinkled peas with round. Also illustrated are Bateson's idea of discontinuous variation and its origin in physics: the change in vibration pattern as shown by Chladni plates. The programme explains why Bateson with his anti-Darwinian views of the evolutionary process became Mendel's leading disciple. As Bernard Norton concludes: "Bateson may have been wrong but his mistakes have made genetics the science that it is today!".
This programme is the story of how the branch of science known as genetics started. It features the contribution of two men in particular: Gregor Mendel (1822-84) and William Bateson (1861-1926). T...here are many demonstrations including Mendel's classic experiments on the heredity of peas - where short plants are crossed with tall, and wrinkled peas with round. Also illustrated are Bateson's idea of discontinuous variation and its origin in physics: the change in vibration pattern as shown by Chladni plates. The programme explains why Bateson with his anti-Darwinian views of the evolutionary process became Mendel's leading disciple. As Bernard Norton concludes: "Bateson may have been wrong but his mistakes have made genetics the science that it is today!".
| Module code and title: | A381, Science and belief: from Darwin to Einstein |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A381; 05 |
| Recording date: | 19-03-1980 |
| First transmission date: | 1981 |
| Published: | 1981 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | David Jackson |
| Contributors: | Norman Cohen; Bernard Norton |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Darwin; Genetics; Theory of evolution |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/73390 |
| Production number: | FOUA057X |
| Videofinder number: | 1213 |
| Available to public: | no |
