This book was conceived in autumn 2009, when Kostas Kampourakis read and became inspired by Ronald Numbers’s Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, and immediately imagined a similar book devoted primarily to myths abounding in science education. The two met for the first time at the Darwin Now Conference in Alexandria, Egypt, in November of that year, and Kostas asked Ron the secret to the quality of Galileo Goes to Jail. Ron gladly shared the secret: “I asked experts to write on each topic.” Kostas kept that secret in mind and in July 2012 paid a visit to Madison, Wisconsin, to propose to Ron to work together on a sequel to Galileo Goes to Jail, focusing on historical myths about science. Thus, a deal was sealed.
Crucial to the success of this project has been the collaboration of over two dozen colleagues, but none more so than Nicolaas Rupke, a longtime friend of Numbers, who invited all of us to a working conference at Washington and Lee University, May 9–10, 2014, supported financially by the Johnson Lecture Series, the Dean’s Office, and the Center for International Learning. Rupke and his colleagues—President Kenneth Ruscio, Provost Daniel Wubah, Dean Suzanne Keen, Mark Rush, Gregory Cooper, and Laurent Boetsch—treated us royally, as did Carolyn Wingrove-Thomas and Alicia Shires. Besides the contributors to this book, Richard Burian (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and Gregory Macklem (University of Notre Dame) provided insightful commentary and criticism.
Joining us at the conference was Michael Fisher, executive editor for science and medicine at Harvard University Press, who gave us advice and encouragement. We are grateful to him, as well as to Andrew Kinney and Lauren Esdaile from Harvard University Press, and Deborah Grahame-Smith and Jamie Thaman from Westchester Publishing Services, for their work during the production of the book. This book was right from the start intended to be a sequel to Galileo Goes to Jail, and it is therefore a pleasure to have it published by Harvard University Press.
Kostas Kampourakis would like to thank Ron Numbers for accepting to work with him on a book Ron could have easily edited on his own. The present book would never have existed without Ron’s competence, experience, open-mindedness, and sense of humor, which make him the best coeditor one could wish for. Kostas would also like to thank his family for their love and support. Ron thanks Kostas for his vision, importunity, and dedication; and Margie Wilsman, his favorite science educator, for her inspiration and affection. Both Kostas and Ron thank the contributors to this volume for their cooperation, promptness, and high-quality essays, which made possible the completion of the book manuscript within a year of sending out the invitations to contribute.