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Gordon Rattray Taylor (11 January 1911 – 7 December 1981) was a popular
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
. He is most famous for his 1968 book ''The Biological Time Bomb'', which heralded the rise of
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
and for his 1983 book ''The Great Evolution Mystery''.


Biography

Gordon Rattray Taylor was born in Eastbourne on 11 January 1911, and educated at
Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...
public school, before studying natural sciences at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
. In 1933 he entered journalism. During the war he worked in the Psychological Warfare division of
SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF ...
. In 1958 he joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
where he wrote and devised science television programs such as ''Eye on Research''. In 1966 he became a full-time author. He served as a member of the
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to co ...
, London (1976–81).


Writing

In ''The Biological Time Bomb'' Taylor heralded the advent of
artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...
,
organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ (anatomy), organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organ ...
s, as well as research into
memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...
and controlling moods.


Evolution

Taylor wrote a book on evolution called ''The Great Evolution Mystery'' first released in 1983 with a second edition in 1984. Taylor criticized
neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of Dar ...
, and said that the origin of species and the mechanisms for
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
are still deep mysteries that have not been solved. Taylor supported
Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...
over Darwin. Taylor discussed the possibility of an inherent self-stabilization of the
genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...
as an important selective factor in evolution. He was supportive of the idea of
Lancelot Law Whyte Lancelot Law Whyte (4 November 1896 – 14 September 1972) was a Scottish philosopher, theoretical physicist, historian of science and financier. Early life and career Lancelot Law Whyte, the son of Dr. Alexander Whyte, was born in Edinburgh, Sco ...
, the evolutionary ideas highlighted in Whyte's book ''Internal factors of evolution'' in which no
mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral repl ...
is due entirely to chance: only those that meet the internal demands of the genome can be utilized in evolutionary processes. Taylor discussed his own evolutionary mechanism called "masking theory" which is the notion that blueprints for building
phenotypes In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or phenotypic trait, traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (biology), morphology or physical form and structure, its Developmental biology, dev ...
can be hidden for millions of years before suddenly being expressed by the
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
. Zoologist
Mark Ridley Mark Ridley may refer to: * Mark Ridley (physician) (1560–1624), English physician and mathematician * Mark Ridley (zoologist) (born 1956), English zoologist See also * Mark Ridley-Thomas Mark Ridley-Thomas is an American politician. He prev ...
negatively reviewed the book concluding that Taylor had a "complete lack of biological imagination". Ridley states that Taylor appears to have failed to have familiarised himself with Darwinian thinking before criticising it, and particularly that Taylor has made the "familiar and elementary" mistake of conflating
natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Cha ...
with chance. Ridley states that Taylor's alternative to Darwinian evolution is described "only in general outline", involving "
Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...
and other inarticulated internal factors". In contrast to Ridley; the anthropologist
H. James Birx Harry James Birx (born June 1, 1941 in Canandaigua, New York), is an American anthropologist and a professor of Anthropology at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He is a distinguished research scholar at the State University of New York at ...
in '' BioScience'' positively reviewed the book. According to Birx:
Taylor boldly claims that the living world of increasing complexity is not one of mere chance and material determinism, or the result of a divine plan and vital force. Instead, he strongly suggests that life is ordered through some internal genetic mechanism... Within this open framework, the author believes that neo-Darwinism is only a subsection of a more comprehensive and sophisticated explanation for biological evolution still to be formulated.
Birx concluded that ''The Great Evolution Mystery'' is a "stimulating book and raises important questions and encourages future scientific inquiry." Philosopher Michael Ruse gave the book a mixed review, stating that although he didn't find Taylor's arguments convincing, he had collected a lot of information and utilized very good illustrations.Ruse, Michael. (1984). ''Great Evolution Mystery by Gordon Rattray Taylor''. ''
The Quarterly Review of Biology ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. It was established in 1926 by Raymond Pearl. In the 1960s it was purchased by the Stony Brook Foundation when the editor H. Bentley Glass be ...
'' 59: 56.


Books

* ''Economics for the Exasperated'' (1948) * ''Sex in History: The Past in the Present'' (1953) * ''Conditions of Happiness'' * ''Are Workers Human?'' * ''The Angel Makers'' * ''The Science of Life: A Pictorial History of Biology'' (1967) * ''The Biological Time Bomb'' (1968) * ''Rethink: A Paraprimitive Solution'' (1972) * ''Rethink: Radical Proposals to Save a Disintegrating World'' (1974) * ''The Doomsday Book: Can the World Survive?'' (1st ed. : 1970 / ed.1972) , * ''How to Avoid the Future'' (1975) * ''Salute to British Genius'' (1978) * ''The Natural History of the Mind'' (1981) * ''The Great Evolution Mystery'' (1983)


See also

*
History of biotechnology Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services. From its inception, biotechnology has maintained a close relationship with society. Althou ...
* Richard Milton


References


External links


Biography from ''The Doomsday Book''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Gordon Rattray 1911 births 1981 deaths People educated at Radley College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II British science writers British male journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists Parapsychologists