December 5, 2008

The Social Limits of Scientific Knowledge in an Age of Easy Information

By DALTON CONLEY

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