Piltdown Man Scam

1. An amateur archeologist, Charles Dawson, discovered an ape jawbone and claimed it to be part of one of the first human skulls. He dug it up in 1912 at an archaeological site in England called Piltdown.  Dawson worked with several other paleontologists and geologists such as Arthur Smith Woodward and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to help him with his discoveries. After they found the jawbone they announced it to the Royal Geological Society which caused great enthusiasm because England never had ancient human fossils like the other countries have before. This evidence of early humans was dubbed “Piltdown man”. For 40 years people did not question this discovery because of Dawson’s and the other scientists’ prestige. However, there was still a few that were skeptical. After Dawson died, more research on evolution was made and more fossils of early humans were discovered which did not match Piltdown man’s. Finally in 1953, dating tests and stain tests were made on the bone and artifacts that revealed they were superficial and altered. The jawbone dated less than a hundred years and came from a female orangutan. Someone had forged the fossils but no one knows who the culprit was for sure. Suspects include:  Dawson, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Keith, Martin A. C. Hinton, Horace de Vere Cole and Arthur Conan Doyle but the truth remains unknown.

2. National pride, greed, and selfishness can all obscure the objectivity of “good science”. Scientific discovery should ultimately benefit everyone. When someone does something just for him or herself and craves fame and possibly fortune, they are putting a negative impact on the scientific process. Scientists are respected for their discoveries because it is universal to think they have good motives, especially for how much work and time they put in to discovering something new. What they share to the world really matters and is usually beneficial knowledge; to obscure that information or discovery can lead other scientists or even average people down the wrong path. Just imagine if a scientist claimed he discovered a cure for cancer. That could surely make the scientist renowned, but if it was not true, it could’ve caused other scientists to stop their efforts and that would've slowed down scientific progress. It could even make matters worse for the patients and the public because the false discovery would make science less believable. In short, science should be a practice done for the masses and not just for self-interest. If a scientist chooses to be selfish, that could stop the faith in science and slow the emergence for new, beneficial and vital information for the future.

3. The skepticism of Piltdown Man caused more scientist to use more evidence to falsify the so called “missing link” fossil. More bones were found in Asia and Africa that gave evidence of early human skulls, but ones that did not match Piltdown’s. In the 1940’s this new technology that measured the fluorine content of fossils helped date the Piltdown jaw. They found it to be much younger than a million years old. Finally in the 1950’s they had better dating methods and microscopes that showed the stains were superficial and the bones have been filed down. Using scientific methods such  as these revealed the hoax. 

4. I would definitely like to remove this “human” factor from not just science but from many industries in our world. Not only in science are people selfish but, for instance, in politics. People tend to corrupt systems with their self-interests. Many third world countries are suffering from corrupt government, leaving the majority of their people in poverty while those in the elite lie at the top. The “human” factor sometimes stops science from progressing. People rely on scientists to provide the evidence and form or prove scientific theories. If a scientist decides to care just for him or herself, then no one will benefit. As much as I would want people to stop being selfish, I don’t believe people can. It is just human nature. The best thing people could do is create a better example and hope people follow. If people practice being honest, being humble, and sharing, that can definitely improve not just science but the world.  

5. It ‘s hard not to believe scholarly scientists but I've learned that unless the information is verified by other sources and not just their own, that it is possible that there can be error to that information. In order for information to be valid, for me, it should be able to be backed up by evidence and that should be confirmed by other scientists. I believe scientists are professionals that have good intentions. Most scientists want to improve the world and provide more useful findings to better the future. But we cannot change how they are human. We certainly do have to be careful when we hear “scientifically proven” on commercials. The sources that can legitimately prove their claims and are widely accepted by other serious professionals, should be the ones to be trusted.