Thus was one more step in cosmic evolution made plausible by midcentury, even though it was a premature and optimistic idea, since only in 1995 were the first planets found around Sun-like stars, and those were gas giants like Jupiter. But …7. On Lowell as Spencerian, and as influenced by Spencer’s American disciple John Fiske, see David Strauss, Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), pp. 97–165.
8. W. W. …
Harold Spencer Jones
scientist · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Without a clear Wikipedia entry and with only fragmentary excerpts, Harold Spencer Jones appears here as a peripheral figure in a discussion of early twentieth-century astronomy and planetary science. The first excerpt seems to place him in a genealogy of thought about cosmic evolution and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, while the second reference situates him in relation to Percival Lowell's Spencerian evolutionary framework. His exact role in the course readings remains opaque from these materials, though he likely represents a moment when astronomical observation intersected with broader speculative claims about life and evolution.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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