Dr. James Watson, Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the DNA double helix structure has caused quite the controversy by claiming that black people are less intelligent than whites. The comment has caused the British museum to cancel a scheduled lecture by Watson. Watson backs up his claim by stating that there's no reason why groups of people in different geographic regions should evolve identically. True enough, but that's not a very convincing case for a discrepancy in brain capacity. Interestingly, CNN's article on the story mentions that Watson isn't the first scientist to make similar claims. They site the views of ex-Leeds University lecturer Dr. Frank Ellis, who was forced to retire after saying all immigrants should be rounded up and deported. Aside from being a nutbag, Ellis was a professor of Russian studies. Not exactly a hard science, that.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Racist Scientist
