Wednesday, November 21, 2007

PiltDown Fraud

Much as the word Edsel has become synonymous with lemon, Piltdown has become synonymous with fraud. Between 1911 and 1915, researcher Charles Dawson found fragments of a cranium, a tooth and some tools in a gravel deposit in Piltdown,

Sussex, England. The scientific world was agog with the findings — anthropolists believed that the fossilized remains of an ancient hominid had been discovered, a missing link between ape and man. It took 40 years for the discovery to be scientifically disproved. On this date in 1953, the Piltdown Man was declared a fake.
Quote: "Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it."Samuel Johnson

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