Yuko Shimizu This week in The New York Times Book Review, Rebeca Stott reviews “Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science†by Christoph Irmscher. Agassiz was a prolific and influential scientist and teacher, but his racist beliefs and his opposition to evolutionary theory tarnished his image. Mr. Irmscher calls his subject “distinctly undelightful.†Ms. Stott writes:
Agassiz and his peers stand in the shadow of Darwin’s extraordinarily liberal, kindly, generous good nature. Alongside Darwin, some of these men look selfish, mean-minded and bigoted. They are difficult to like.
But irreconcilable contradictions make for interesting biographies. And Irmscher doesn’t allow the “undelightful†aspects to disappear in the service of myth making. Instead, he draws out the complexities of his subject and helps us to see them as part of the fabric of 19th-century science. There’s no airbrushing in “Louis Agassiz: Creator of Ame! rican Science.â€
This week, Mr. Irmscher discusses the life of Agassiz; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; Timothy Naftali talks about Richard Nixon; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.
