Similarly, Lawrence J. Henderson, a professor of biological chemistry at Harvard, wrote 10 years after Wallace, “[t]here is . . . one scientific conclusion which I wish to put forward as a positive statement and, I trust, fruitful outcome o…Although human reactions to the new universe and cosmic evolution have not been monolithic, certain underlying themes are pervasive. The increased awareness of the new universe and the possibility of a biological universe largely dashed any…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. …
Lawrence Joseph Henderson
scientist · 3 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Lawrence Joseph Henderson was a Harvard biochemist who articulated early twentieth-century arguments about the fitness of the physical and chemical environment for life, contributing to debates about cosmic order and biological possibility that shaped how scientists understood emergence and organization. The course readings invoke him to trace how post-Darwinian thought grappled with apparent design in nature without recourse to teleology, positioning his work as part of a broader intellectual tradition (influenced by Spencer and others) that sought to reconcile mechanism with the appearance of purposeful adaptation.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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Nicolaus Copernicus 1Paul Davies 1Alexander Ivanovich Oparin 1Carl Sagan 1G. M. Tovmasyan 1George Wald 1Harold Spencer Jones 1Helge Kragh 1Iris Fry 1Joseph Shklovsky 1Steven J. Dick 1Vasily Grigorievich Fesenkov 1Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis 1Alfred Russel Wallace 1James Hopwood Jeans 1Olaf Stapledon 1