December 5, 2008
The Social Limits of Scientific Knowledge in an Age of Easy Information
The myth of scientific genius is deeply rooted in American culture — perhaps because it jibes so well with the story of individualism that we like to tell ourselves. There's Albert Einstein coming up with the theory of relativity while sitting in a patent office. There's the German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé discovering the carbon-ring structure of benzene — with alternating single and double bonds — after having a dream about a snake chasing its
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