American Philosophical Society Research Articles

A Conversation with Stephen M. Stigler

Stephen M. Stigler received his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, with a dissertation on the asymptotic distribution of linear functions of order statistics. Starting in 1967, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, then in 1979 moved to the University of Chicago where he taught from 1979 to 2021. Stigler has worked on a variety of topics in mathematical statistics, ranging from asymptotic theory to the theory of experimental design, and on applications of statistics including in anthropology, forensic science, paleontology, psychology, information transfer and sports. In recent years, he has concentrated on the history of statistics, with inquiries ranging from the development of statistical methods in astronomy and geodesy and their spread to biological and social sciences, to lotteries, to the modern development of statistical theory. He has published four books, The History of Statistics (1986), Statistics on the Table (1999), The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom (2016) and Casanova’s Lottery (2022). A recent research focus has been upon the way the work of Francis Galton on the statistics of inheritance led to the creation of modern multivariate analysis and made a true Bayesian inference possible, and on how R. A. Fisher’s transformation of Karl Pearson’s path breaking research led to a modern period of statistical enlightenment. Stigler is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society; he has served as President of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and of the International Statistical Institute. In 2005, he received the Humboldt Foundation Research Award; in 2010, he was elected Membre Associé of the Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Sciences. Stigler served as Theory and Methods Editor for the Journal of the American Statistical Association 1979–1982. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1977, and received awards for undergraduate teaching at the University of Wisconsin (1971) and University of Chicago (1998). This interview with Stigler was conducted remotely in July 2021.

Decolonizing Language Revitalization on Tuscarora Nation Territory

Abstract: This article discusses the revitalization of the Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language. These efforts were further mobilized and transformed by the loss of one of the last elders who spoke the language in 2018. This article puts light on the nuances of language revitalization, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, resources, and reconnection with historical and cultural roots. Specifically, the importance of collaboration between grassroots community organizations, in this case, the Neyękwawętaˀθkwahshek Tuscarora Language Program (NTLP), with linguistic expertise and the support of external institutions, such as the American Philosophical Society. The piece highlights collaborative strategies that support language revitalization and the importance of fostering equitable, accountable relationships among Indigenous communities, linguists, and academic institutions supporting revitalization efforts.

Ferre, Lola (2023), <em>Isaac Israelí’s The Definition of Fever and Its Essence in Its Hebrew Translations: The First Treatise of The Book on Fevers: Accompained by Arabic, Latin and Old Spanish Editions and English Translation</em>

Ferre, Lola (2023), Isaac Israelí’s The Definition of Fever and Its Essence in Its Hebrew Translations: The First Treatise of The Book on Fevers: Accompained by Arabic, Latin and Old Spanish Editions and English Translation. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Press, 256 pp. ISBN: 978-1-60618-115-7.

Lincoln and Marfan Syndrome

Abstract: Based on a presentation at the American Philosophical Society's Member Meeting in April 2019, this essay tackles the lingering question of whether Abraham Lincoln suffered from Marfan Syndrome. The author—an eminent vascular surgeon with experience studying and treating Marfan Syndrome—describes the syndrome in detail, provides an overview of the arguments and evidence of those who have previously speculated on the topic, and ultimately concludes that Lincoln lacked the cardinal manifestations of Marfan Syndrome.

A substituição nua: o apoio de geneticistas e biotecnólogos à eugenia da Segunda Guerra Mundial ao Projeto Genoma Humano

ABSTRACT Using a combination of archival and secondary sources, this article argues that scientists and bioethicists after the Second World War advocated a wide variety of eugenic practices and strongly supported the development of eugenics, strengthened by advances in medicine, human genetics, and population genetics. I detail extensive research in both the Curt Stern and the American Eugenics Society Papers (American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia), uncovering novel defenses of eugenics and its integration in sciences after the Second World War by key figures such as Curt Stern and Theodosius Dobzhansky. Moreover, I relate to Richard Lewontin’s participation in a Princeton conference sponsored by the American Eugenics Society in 1965. This article is also the first to not only describe geneticists’ defense and development of eugenic ideas but also details bioethicists’ defense of this inhumane and unscientific ideology until the dawn of the Human Genome Project in the late 1980s.

Slavery and the History of Emotions: The Greek Epigraphic Evidence

Abstract: Based on a presentation at the American Philosophical Society's Member Meeting in April 2013, this essay uses epigraphs inscribed onto grave monuments, tablets, and other forms of stonework to explore the emotions of those legally designated as slaves in ancient Greece. Noting the difficulties in recovering the feelings of the enslaved in extant literary sources, the author suggests that these inscriptions can offer a truer lens into the feelings of slavesas well as into the feelings of others toward enslaved individuals. Understanding these emotional landscapes, he argues, can help us better understand ancient Greek society as a whole.

Theodore Joseph Ziolkowski

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent professor of German and comparative literature Theodore Joseph Ziolkowski (1932-2020), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1984.

Philip Edward Gossett

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent musicologist Philip Edward Gossett (1941-2017), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008.

Sidney Verba

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent political scientist Sidney Verba (1932-2019), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003.

Wm. Theodore de Bary

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent historianWm. Theodore de Bary (1919-2017), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1999.

William H. McNeill

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent historian William H. McNeill (1917-2016), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1977.

Unboxing the Dead: A Memoir

Abstract: In this intimate memoir, former American Philosophical Society manuscripts librarian J. Stephen Catlett interweaves personal and family stories with memories from his career as an archivist at institutions including the APS and the Greensboro Historical Museum. In so doing, Catlett shares what he has learned from his diverse experiences among voices from the past, and how this work helped him make sense of both his own life and his mother's.

Michael Silverstein

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent linguistMichael Silverstein (1945-2020), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008.

Brian Tierney

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent historianBrian Tierney (1922-2019), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1990.

Reassessing Early Archaic projectile point typologies in the Carolina Piedmont through gross morphometric analysis

ABSTRACT Palmer and Kirk Corner-Notched projectile points are common in archaeological assemblages of the Carolina Piedmont dating to the Early Archaic (11,500–9,000 cal BP). These types were initially described by Joffre Lanning Coe ([1964] The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 54(5):1–130. DOI:10.2307/3231919) in his seminal typology and are now well documented as the primary hafted bifacial tools diagnostic of the region’s early Holocene occupation. Several studies describe morphological similarities between Palmer and Kirk points – as defined by Coe – but there is little agreement regarding the chronological and typological relationships between them; some maintain that they are discrete point types while others believe they instead represent distinct use-life stages of a single type. The inconsistencies of these perspectives indicate that this aspect of Coe’s typology requires a reassessment. Here, we demonstrate substantial overlap in Palmer and Kirk Corner-Notched points’ haft morphologies and significant differences in their overall proportions, a combination of traits that better supports the hypothesis that all Early Archaic corner-notched points in the Carolina Piedmont are of a single type. Combining these historically separated point types into a single one resolves longstanding confusions and permits new lines of inquiry regarding Early Archaic adaptations including conditions under which points might be more or less heavily resharpened (i.e., Palmer-like and Kirk-like, respectively).

Useful Objects: Museums, Science, & Literature in Nineteenth-Century America

Useful Objects: Museums, Science, & Literature in Nineteenth-Century America

From Map Projection to Semiotics

Umberto Eco’s admiration for Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) for ... earning a living by drawing maps ... combined with the pleasure of knowledge given by the diving to the history of our cartographic discipline, reminded me of a relevant sixty-year-old text about the great scientist and authentic thinker – maybe the greatest of Logic of his time. It is based on unpublished (until then) manuscript material, in his collection of the same name in the Houghton Library at Harvard. The sixty-year-old mathematician Carolyn Eisele (1902−2000) – devoted scholar of Peirce’s work – wrote the text in the early 1960s; it was then published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. The subject of her text is the problem of cartographic projection. But what can a cartographic projection problem have to do with logic and its practical applications, which is the greatest challenge to Peirce’s thinking?

Five Hundred African Voices: A Catalog of Published Accounts by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586–1936.Edited by Aaron Spencer Fogleman and Robert Hanserd. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, 2022. xliv + 513 pages + 17 maps + 1 photographic essay. $45.00 paperback.

Five Hundred African Voices: A Catalog of Published Accounts by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586–1936.<i>Edited by Aaron Spencer Fogleman and Robert Hanserd. Philadelphia, PA: American Philosophical Society, 2022. xliv + 513 pages + 17 maps + 1 photographic essay. $45.00 paperback.</i>

Dendrology and Lightning Protection

The protection of trees against lightning—especially historically significant ones, high-value trees, and tall trees within 10 ft of a structure—began around the beginning of the 20th century. Arborists derived their methods and standards of protection from the electrical engineer’s solutions used to protect tall structures. The fundamentals for this protection originated more than 300 years ago in Philadelphia, as described in Benjamin Franklin’s pamphlet “Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America” <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">[1]</xref> . Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society (the oldest learned society) in 1743 with contemporary scholars including his close friend and consult in all things related to trees and shrubs, John Bartram, the famous botanist. Bartram collected and studied trees and shrubs from all of the original 13 states and created the first botanical garden in Philadelphia. In 1795, he discovered the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Franklinia alatamaha</i> tree, which he named in honor of his close family friend Benjamin Franklin <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref2" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">[2]</xref> .

Prolegomena to any future philosophy of behavior analysis as a science.

This tribute to Howard Rachlin speculates about scholarly work that might have been. It explores how behavioral data might bear on philosophical issues, with examples that might be called case studies in experimental philosophy. In 1964, an issue of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society served a similar function. It was entitled "Psychology: A Behavioral Interpretation"; the papers included "Will," "Experience," "Appetite," "Humors," "Anxiety," and "Man." This presentation imagines what a contemporary project devoted to philosophical and behavior analytic perspectives on the topics of causation, freedom and volition, good and evil, time, words, and mind might have looked like. Along the way it notes how the project would have benefitted from Howard Rachlin's seminal contributions to both behavior analysis and philosophy. If ever such a project comes to pass, it will inevitably bear the stamp of his contributions.