JBS Haldane

[[File:J. B. S. Haldane.jpg|upright|165px|thumb|Haldane looking reasonably dapper]]
{{evolution}}
'''John Burdon Sanderson Haldane''' {{lived|1892|1964}} was a [[British]] [[geneticist]], [[evolutionary biologist]], and [[mathematician]] known for his contributions to the [[modern synthesis]] of [[evolution|evolutionary theory]]. He is ''also'' known for his adherence to [[Stalinism]] and for being a [[eugenicist]], so…

==Eugenics==
It was Haldane who first thought of the genetic basis for human [[cloning]]; indeed, it was he who introduced the word "clone" in the first place, modifying the original term ''clon'', which was originally a farming term.<ref>{{cite book|title=Should scientists pursue cloning?|last=Thomas|first=Isabel|publisher=Raintree|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4062-3391-9|location=London|page=5}}</ref> He introduced the term in his speech on "Biological Possibilities for the Human Species of the Next Ten Thousand Years" at the "Ciba Foundation Symposium on Man and his Future" in 1963. He said:
{{cquote|It is extremely hopeful that some human [[cell]] lines can be grown on a medium of precisely known chemical composition. Perhaps the first step will be the production of a clone from a single fertilized egg, as in ''[[Brave New World]]''… On the general principle that men will make all possible mistakes before choosing the right path, we shall no doubt clone the wrong people (like [[Hitler]])… Assuming that cloning is possible, I expect that most clones would be made from people aged at least fifty, except for athletes and dancers, who would be cloned younger. They would be made from people who were held to have excelled in a socially acceptable accomplishment.<ref>{{cite book|title=Man and his future|author=Haldane, J.B.S.|publisher=J. & A. Churchill|year=1963|isbn=978-0-470-71479-9|editor=Wolstenholme, Gordon|series=Novartis Foundation Symposia|location=London|pages=337–361|chapter=Biological Possibilities for the Human Species in the Next Ten Thousand Years}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/Haldanebioposs.htm|title=Biological Possibilities for the Human Species in the Next Ten Thousand Years|last=Haldane|first=J.B.S.|publisher=World Transhumanist Association|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108083010/http://www.transhumanism.org/resources/Haldanebioposs.htm|archivedate=8 November 2014|deadurl=yes|accessdate=19 February 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

He was also the first to come up with the idea of designer babies, envisioning them as a means of coming up with "superior humans."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=James |first1=David N. |title=Ectogenesis: a reply to Singer and Wells |journal=Bioethics |date=1987 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=80–99 |pmid=11649763}}</ref> 

==Science==
Haldane was the first to demonstrate the concept of {{wpl|genetic linkage}} in [[mammals]], that certain traits are inherited together.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldane|first=J. B. S.|author2=Sprunt, A. D.|author3=Haldane, N. M.|year=1915|title=Reduplication in mice (Preliminary Communication)|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/35423#page/201/mode/1up|deadurl=no|journal=Journal of Genetics|volume=5|issue=2|pages=133–135|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018220209/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/35423#page/201/mode/1up|archivedate=18 October 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> As the paper was written during Haldane's service in the [[First World War]], James F. Crow called it "the most important science article ever written in a front-line trench".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crow|first1=JF|date=1992|title=Centennial: J. B. S. Haldane, 1892–1964|journal=Genetics|volume=130|issue=1|pages=1–6|pmid=1732155}}</ref> He was the first to demonstrate linkage in chickens in 1921,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldane|first=JB|year=1921|title=Linkage in poultry|journal=Science|volume=54|issue=1409|page=663|bibcode=1921Sci....54..663H||pmid=17816160}}</ref> and (with Julia Bell) in humans in 1937.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bell|first1=J.|last2=Haldane|first2=J. B. S.|date=1937|title=The Linkage between the Genes for Colour-Blindness and Haemophilia in Man|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=123|issue=831|pages=119–150|bibcode=1937RSPSB.123..119B}}</ref> 

Haldane also played an important role in developing the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory, and he also revitalized [[natural selection]] as the driving force of evolution by explaining it mathematically with [[Mendelian]] genetics.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldane|first=JB|year=1990|title=A mathematical theory of natural and artificial selection--I. 1924|journal=Bulletin of Mathematical Biology|volume=52|issue=1–2|pages=209–40; discussion 201–7|pmid=2185859}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldane|first=JB|year=1959|title=The theory of natural selection today|journal=Nature|volume=183|issue=4663|pages=710–3|bibcode=1959Natur.183..710H|pmid=13644170}}</ref> He wrote a series of ten papers, titled "A Mathematical Theory of Natural and Artificial Selection", deriving expressions for the direction and rate of change of [[gene]] frequencies, and also analyzing the interaction of natural selection with [[mutation]] and migration. Haldane's book, ''The Causes of Evolution'' (1932), summarized these results, especially in its extensive appendix.

His contributions to [[statistical]] human genetics included: the first methods using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for human linkage maps; pioneering methods for estimating human mutation rates; the first estimates of mutation rate in humans (2×10<sup>−5</sup> mutations per gene per generation for the [[Chromosome|X]]-linked {{wpl|hemophilia}} gene); and the first notion that there is a "cost of natural selection".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldane|first=J. B. S.|year=1935|title=The rate of spontaneous mutation of a human gene|journal=Journal of Genetics|volume=31|issue=3|pages=317–326}}</ref>

In 1923, in a talk given in Cambridge titled "Science and the Future", Haldane, foreseeing the exhaustion of [[coal]] for power generation in Britain, proposed a network of [[hydrogen]]-generating windmills. This is the first proposal of the [[Hydrogen economy|hydrogen-based renewable economy]].<ref>{{cite web |title = An Early Vision of Transhumanism, and the First Proposal of a Hydrogen-Based Renewable Energy Economy |url = http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=4107 |publisher = Jeremy Norman & Co., Inc. |accessdate = 19 February 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Hordeski |first = Michael Frank |title = Hydrogen & Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power |year = 2009 |publisher = The Fairmont Press, Inc. |location = Lilburn, GA |isbn = 978-0-88173-562-8 |pages = 202–203 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LfFIEQg1iioC&pg=PA202&lpg |deadurl = no |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20170308004636/https://books.google.com/books?id=LfFIEQg1iioC&pg=PA202&lpg |archivedate = 8 March 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Demirbas |first = Ayhan |title = Biohydrogen For Future Engine Fuel Demands |year = 2009 |publisher = Springer London |location = London |isbn = 978-1-84882-511-6 |page = 106 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1w9DMBh7JOUC&dq |edition = Online-Ausg. |deadurl = no |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20170307234653/https://books.google.com/books?id=1w9DMBh7JOUC&dq |archivedate = 7 March 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>

Haldane also was the first to demonstrate that the size of an [[animal]] determines what "bodily equipment" it has, specifically noting that in [[insects]] oxygen is simply absorbed through the skin, whereas in more complex critters like vertebrates oxygen is filtered through complex respiratory apparatuses like lungs and gills. This is called "Haldane's principle" in his honor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Scientific Principles|last=Marvin|first=Stephen|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2012|isbn=978-1-118-58224-4|location=Chicester|page=140}}</ref>

In 1949, Haldane proposed that genetic disorders in humans living in malaria-endemic regions provided a [[phenotype]] with immunity to blood-borne haemophiles. He noted that mutations expressed in red blood cells, such as sickle-cell anemia and various thalassemias, were prevalent only in tropical regions where malaria has been endemic. He further observed that these were favorable traits for natural selection which protected individuals from receiving malarial infection in the first place.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Sabeti |first = Pardis C |title = Natural selection: uncovering mechanisms of evolutionary adaptation to infectious disease |journal = Nature Education |year = 2008 |volume = 1 |issue = 1 |page = 13 |url = http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/natural-selection-uncovering-mechanisms-of-evolutionary-adaptation-34539 |deadurl = no |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150109143615/http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/Natural-Selection-Uncovering-Mechanisms-of-Evolutionary-Adaptation-34539 |archivedate = 9 January 2015 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> This idea was eventually confirmed by Anthony C. Allison in 1954.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Allison |first = AC |title = The distribution of the sickle-cell trait in East Africa and elsewhere, and its apparent relationship to the incidence of subtertian malaria |journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |year = 1954 |volume = 48 |issue = 4 |pages = 312–8 |pmid = 13187561 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last = Hedrick |first = Philip W |title = Resistance to malaria in humans: the impact of strong, recent selection |journal = Malaria Journal |year = 2012 |volume = 11 |issue = 1 |page = 349 ||pmid = 23088866}}</ref>

Haldane also observed that during the early stages of [[speciation]], if one [[sex]] of a species hybrid is infertile or sterile, that sex is likely to be the heterogametic sex, or the sex with two chromosomes. This principle is called "Haldane's rule," not to be confused with the aforementioned "Haldane's principle."<ref name="genetics">{{cite journal |title=The Dominance Theory of Haldane's Rule|author1=Turelli, M |author2=Orr, H.A.  |journal=Genetics |date=May 1995 |volume=140 |issue=1 |pages=389–402 ||pmid=7635302}}</ref>

==Socialism==
Haldane became a socialist during [[World War I]]; supported the republicans during the [[Spanish Civil War]]; and then became an open supporter of the British Communist Party in 1937. A pragmatic [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical-materialist]] [[Marxist]], he wrote many articles for the ''Daily Worker''. He also showed some signs of being an [[Left communism|impossibilist]], in ''On Being the Right Size'', he wrote: "while {{wpl|nationalization}} of certain industries is an obvious possibility in the largest of states, I find it no easier to picture a completely socialized [[British Empire]] or [[United States]] than an elephant turning somersaults or a hippopotamus jumping a hedge."

Haldane has been accused by authors, including Peter Wright and Chapman Pincher, of having been a [[Soviet]] spy codenamed ''Intelligentsia''.<ref>{{cite book |first = Peter |last = Wright |title = Spycatcher |publisher = Heinemann |year = 1987 |page = 236 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Pincher |first = Chapman |title = Treachery: Betrayals, Blunders and Cover-Ups: Six Decades of Espionage |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=32xlXpcaBCIC&pg=PT52 |year = 2011 |publisher = Mainstream |isbn = 978-1-84596-811-3 |page = 52 |deadurl = no |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20171111142103/https://books.google.com/books?id=32xlXpcaBCIC&pg=PT52 |archivedate = 11 November 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> While Haldane became critical of the Soviet regime, he continued to admire [[Stalin]], even calling him a "great man who did great things" at one point.<ref>"[http://the10000yearexplosion.com/jbs-haldanes/ JBS Haldane]" - The Ten Thousand Year Explosion</ref>

==The Narnia Wars==
Haldane was notoriously criticized by noted [[Christian]] writer and [[apologist]] [[CS Lewis]] for so-called "[[scientism]]."<ref group="notes">Scientism is both a misguided philosophy asserting that all that can be learned and studied can only be known through [[science]], as well as being a derogatory bullshit label for [[metaphysical naturalists]] and [[skeptics]].</ref> Haldane responded to these attacks in his essay "Auld Hornie," which is an old [[Scottish]] folk name for 
the world's first [[human rights]] lawyer
 [[Satan]]. Haldane furthermore accused Lewis of moaning about [[capitalism]] being a so-called "by product of the fall of man whilst doing nothing to replace it with a [[socialism|better]] [[communism|system]]." Haldane also mockingly refers to Lewis and his followers as "{{wpl|Lewisite|Lewisites}}" after a poisonous chemical with the same name, indeed it's even part of the name for one of his essays, "More Anti-Lewisite."<ref>"[http://www.lewisiana.nl/haldane/ JBS Haldane]" - Lewisiana</ref>

==Notes==
<references group="notes" />

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haldane, John Burdon Sanderson}}
[[Category:Biologists]]
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Communists]]
[[Category:Mathematicians]]

Categories: Biologists, British people, Communists, Mathematicians