Daniel Webster Hering

Daniel Webster Hering (23 March 1850 – 24 March 1938)[1] was an American physicist and university dean.

Daniel Webster Hering
BornMarch 23, 1850
Washington County
DiedMarch 24, 1938
Bellevue Hospital
OccupationPhysicist, skeptic

Biography

Hering was born near Smithburg in Washington County, Maryland, and graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School (Yale) with a Ph.B. in 1872.[1][2] He occupied positions at Johns Hopkins, Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Western University of Pennsylvania (now University of Pittsburgh), and NYU, where he was dean after 1902. He was the author of Essentials of Physics for College Students (1912). Hering is credited with taking the first human x-ray in the United States on February 5, 1896 at Bellevue Hospital.[3]

Foibles and Fallacies of Science

Hering was one of the original citations for Martin Gardner in his work Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science in which it is argued he founded the modern scientific skepticism movement.[4] Hering's work Foibles and Fallacies of Science (1924) is considered one of the key original texts on matters concerning pseudoscience.[5] The book was positively reviewed in the Nature journal as containing much "curious and interesting information."[6] The book covered alchemy, astrology, divination, prophecies, perpetual motion devices, hoaxes and quackery.[7]

A review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences described it as a "serious study of pseudoscience" intended for the "layman in science and the professional student to whom we can highly recommend it."[8]

Selected publications
gollark: Do you have it running Moonscript somehow?
gollark: I wonder if it's non-case-sensitive on Windows.
gollark: Also, it's quite hard to use the mounting thing without that, since the paths work differently and you're reliant on CraftOS-PC to guess what you want.
gollark: ... national security reasons?
gollark: It doesn't seem to provide a way to detect OS or anything, which is odd.

References
  1. "Daniel Webster Hering". Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased During the Year 1937-1938. 35 (12): 152–3. 1939.
  2. Annual Report - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (1938). Volumes 33-34. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. p. 162
  3. New York University presents 175 Facts About NYU
  4. Martin Gardner. (1957). Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Dover Publications. p. 8. ISBN 978-0486203942
  5. Why Is There a Skeptical Movement? by Daniel Loxton
  6. G. C. S. (1924). "Foibles and Fallacies of Science". Nature 114: 458–459.
  7. H. E. B. (1924). "Foibles and Fallacies of Science". Social Forces 2 (5): 789–790
  8. Raubenheimer, Otto. (1924). "Foibles and Fallacies of Science". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 13 (6): 587.
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