Nearly Forgotten Peter Putnam
More proof that science communication matters
Gregor Mendel, the posthumous father of genetics, is a recurring character in my ongoing argument that science communication matters. I often cite his struggle to communicate his pea plant breeding results as the reason he died in obscurity while the field waited decades for someone to find them again. Now, Massachusetts-based science writer Amanda Gefter has unearthed an incredible story of a nearly forgotten genius named Peter Putnam, published a couple of weeks ago in Nautilus Magazine. Born into a wealthy family, Putnam excelled at physics, went to Princeton, and developed a theory of the mind that, like Mendel’s theory of inheritance, was far ahead of its time. He impressed Albert Einstein and worked with some of the most prominent physicists of that era. At the age of 60, Putnam was struck and killed by a drunk driver while riding a bicycle to his job as a janitor in Houma, Louisiana. Through a labor of love and with the help of some notable physicists who’d seemed to be waiting for her, Gefter beautifully fills in the gaps of his story. It has art, science, a problematic mother, storage units bursting with endless boxes of Putnam’s nearly indecipherable and narrowly rescued writings, and a great, enduring love. I feel so strongly that everyone should go read this piece right now that I would like to yield the remainder of my time to the gentlewoman from Shelburne Falls, MA: the honorable Amanda Gefter.