Isadore Nabi
Isadore Nabi (sometimes Isidore Nabi or Isador Nabi) was a pseudonym used by a group of scientists including
Nabi's biography was listed in American Men and Women of Science, articles and letters were published in prominent journals under his name, and he was listed on the editorial board of Evolutionary Theory.[2]
He has primarily written on
Biography
His biography in American Men and Women of Science reads:
- NABI, ISIDORE, b Brno, Czech, July 22, 10; m 30; c 6. POPULATION BIOLOGY. Educ: Cochabamba Univ, AB, 30; Nat Univ Mex, MD. 36. Hon Degrees: PhD, Cochabamba Univ, 50; LLB. Nat Univ Mex, 39. Prof Exp: Petrol geologist. Ministeno de Fomento, Venezuela, 40-42; instr biol. Hunter Col, 45-47; resident path, Kings County Hosp. Brooklyn, 47-49; ed & publisher, Boletin de Medicina Forensics, Caracas, 49-51; lectr & res assoc path, Univ Venezuela, 51-56; Guggenheim fel biol, Yeshiva Univ, 56-57; res assoc pharmacol, NY Univ, 62-65; res assoc anat, 65-67, evolutionary biol, 67-71, RES ASSOC BIOL, UNIV CHICAGO, 71- Concurrent Pos: Consult, Standard Oil Co, 45-47 & Kings County Coroner, 47-49; NIH res grant, 65. Mem: Soc Study Evolution; Am Col Legal Med; Int Acad Path Res: Cytopathology; forensic cytology; paleocytopathology. Mailing Add: Dept of Biol Univ of Chicago Chicago IL 60637.[2]
Nabi was supposedly born in 1910 in
Controversy
In 1981, Nabi had a letter published in Nature complaining that Richard Dawkins suggested both that we were "robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes ... they control us body and mind" and that we need to fight against the tendencies of our genes. Similarly, E. O. Wilson has said that neurobiology provided "a genetically accurate and hence completely fair code of ethics" but also warned against the naturalistic fallacy.[6]
Wilson complained to Nature magazine that Nabi was an invented character and insisted that he "lifted the two 1975 phrases of mine out of context in a way that reverses the meaning of one". The editors suggested that Nabi was a pseudonym of Lewontin's.[7] Lewontin wrote to insist he was not "Isidore Nabi", citing Nabi's biography in American Men and Women of Science and editorial board position on Evolutionary Theory.[2] Isidore Nabi replied to insist that he was not Isadore Nabi, the author of the letter.[8]
This all led to a Nature editorial in the fall of 1981 which stated that Nabi was the pen name of
References
- doi:10.1038/293422b0.
- ^ doi:10.1038/291608f0.
- ^ Nabi, Isadore (1980). "An Evolutionary Interpretation of the English Sonnet (First Annual Piltdown Lecture on Man and Nature)". Science and Nature (3): 70–74.
- ISBN 0-674-20283-X.
- ^ Nabi, Isador (January 2002). "The Nabi Newsletter: For the Investor Ahead of the Mob". GeneWatch. 15 (1). Archived from the original on October 4, 2007.
- PMID 7207608.
- doi:10.1038/290623b0.
- doi:10.1038/291374b0.
- doi:10.1038/293002b0.
- doi:10.1038/293696e0.