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} }) </script> </div> </form> </fieldset> <article class="entryArticle content STeditorial"> <header class="entryHeader icon-author"> <h1 class="entryTitle">Haldane, J B S </h1> </header><p class='tagLine'>Entry updated 25 November 2024. Tagged: Author.</p><div class="browsingBtns"> <span> <input class="button PNI previous" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?id=p&entry=haldane_j_b_s'" value="Prev" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI next" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?&entry=haldane_j_b_s'" value="Next" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI incoming" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/incoming.php?entry=haldane_j_b_s'" value="About This Entry" title="What links to the entry; contributor initials explained; how to cite; other information" /> </span> <span><input class="button PNI" type="button" value="Checklist" onclick="window.location.hash='chklst'" ></span> <span><input class="button PNI" type="button" value="Alpha" onclick="window.location.href='/chron.php?id=haldane_j_b_s&abc'" ></span> <span><input class="button PNI" type="button" value="Chron" onclick="window.location.href='/chron.php?id=haldane_j_b_s'" ></span> <span style="cursor: pointer;" onclick="window.open('/gallery.php?link=haldane_j_b_s');"> <img alt="Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com" style="margin: 0; position: relative; top:-2px;" src="/images/icon-gal.gif"></img></span> </div><p style='float:right; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:10px; position: relative; top: 3px;'> <a href='/gallery.php?id=Haldane-Poss-Worlds.jpg' target='_blank'> <img src='https://x.sf-encyclopedia.com/gal/thumbs/Haldane-Poss-Worlds.jpg' alt='pic'></a></p> <p>(1892-1964) UK biologist and author, brother of Naomi <a href="/entry/mitchison_naomi">Mitchison</a>, married to Charlotte <a href="/entry/haldane_charlotte">Haldane</a> (1926-1945); in active service in <a href="/entry/world_war_one">World War One</a>, beginning 1914; an Indian citizen from 1961. His work in population genetics, and his sophistications of the theory of <a href="/entry/evolution">Evolution</a> to properly incorporate Mendelian genetics, were of contemporary significance (see <a href="/entry/biology">Biology</a>). He wrote relatively little fiction. <i>My Friend Mr Leakey</i> (coll of linked stories <b>1937</b>) is a book of light-hearted fantasies for children, with no sf element, though the eponymous magus-like Communist scientist at the heart of the tales has his eye on a better future. Haldane's only sf proper is an incomplete and posthumously published <a href="/entry/scientific_romance">Scientific Romance</a>, <i>The Man with Two Memories</i> (<b>1976</b>), about a man's <a href="/entry/telepathy">Telepathic</a> link with an <a href="/entry/aliens">Alien</a> of the planet Ulro, which he describes as a <a href="/entry/utopias">Utopia</a> in which <a href="/entry/drugs">Drugs</a> are used to control human behaviour, and most new births are <a href="/entry/clones">Clones</a> bred for quality. </p> <p>Haldane is probably best remembered for his bold speculative essays, which heavily influenced significant works by other writers. <i>Dedalus; Or, Science and the Future</i> (<b>1923</b> chap), which espoused <a href="/entry/eugenics">Eugenics</a> and inspired the long-running series of <a href="/entry/to-day_and_to-morrow">To-day and To-morrow</a> texts, is a classic anticipation of <a href="/entry/genetic_engineering">Genetic Engineering</a>, and provided the image of the future sarcastically extrapolated by Aldous <a href="/entry/huxley_aldous">Huxley</a> in <i>Brave New World</i> (<b>1932</b>); Haldane himself soon came to disapprove of this "science", arguing its moral and practical inefficacy in his <i>Heredity and Politics</i> (<b>1938</b>). In <i>Callinicus: A Defence of Chemical Warfare</i> (<b>1925</b>), also in the <b>To-Day and To-Morrow</b> series, he argues that <a href="/entry/poisons">Poison</a> gas is no more or less horrific than any other <a href="/entry/weapons">Weapon</a> of mass destruction. The semifictional "The Last Judgment", in <i>Possible Worlds and Other Essays</i> (coll <b>1927</b>), sets out an <a href="/entry/evolution">Evolutionary</a> prospectus for the human race which was extensively elaborated by Olaf <a href="/entry/stapledon_olaf">Stapledon</a> in <i>Last and First Men</i> (<b>1930</b>). Haldane's wife from 1926 to 1945, Charlotte <a href="/entry/haldane_charlotte">Haldane</a>, published the novel <i>Man's World</i> (<b>1926</b>) which explicitly draws not only on his arguments but on those of Bertrand <a href="/entry/russell_bertrand">Russell</a>'s riposte, <i>Icarus; Or, the Future of Science</i> (<b>1924</b> chap).</p> <p>"On Being the Right Size", also from <i>Possible Worlds and Other Essays</i>, discusses recurring problems of scale in sf (see <a href="/entry/great_and_small">Great and Small</a>), such as giants who are ten times human size but with – unworkably owing such to limitations as the strength of bone – the exact same proportions. Some further pieces in <i>A Banned Broadcast and Other Essays</i> (coll <b>1946</b>) – assembling short science articles mostly written for the communist newspaper <i>The Daily Worker</i> – are of sf interest, including a debunking of <a href="/entry/world_war_two">World War Two</a> rumours of <a href="/entry/death_rays">Death Rays</a> (see also <a href="/entry/urban_legends">Urban Legends</a>). [BS/DRL]</p> <p><b>see also:</b> <a href="/entry/anthropology">Anthropology</a>; <a href="/entry/childrens_sf">Children's SF</a>; <a href="/entry/colonization_of_other_worlds">Colonization of Other Worlds</a>; <a href="/entry/dystopias">Dystopias</a>; <a href="/entry/end_of_the_world">End of the World</a>; <a href="/entry/far_future">Far Future</a>; <a href="/entry/futures_studies">Futures Studies</a>; <a href="/entry/sun">Sun</a>; <a href="/entry/venus">Venus</a>.</p> <h3 id="chklst">John Burdon Sanderson Haldane</h3> <p><b>born</b> Oxford, Oxfordshire: 5 November 1892</p> <p><b>died</b> Bhubaneswar, India: 1 December 1964</p> <p><b>works</b></p> <p><input type="button" value="Alphabetical" class="button PNI" onclick="window.location.href='/chron.php?id=haldane_j_b_s&abc'"> <input type="button" value="Chronological" class="button PNI" onclick="window.location.href='/chron.php?id=haldane_j_b_s'"></p> <ul class="x"> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=My+Friend+Mr+Leakey&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">My Friend Mr Leakey</a></em> (London: The Cresset Press, <b>1937</b>) [coll of linked stories: illus/hb/Leonard H Rosoman]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=The+Man+with+Two+Memories&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">The Man with Two Memories</a></em> (London: The Merlin Press, <b>1976</b>) [hb/Richard <a href="/entry/weaver_richard">Weaver</a>]</li> </ul> <p><b>nonfiction</b> (selected)</p> <ul class="x"> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Daedalus+Or+Science+and+the+Future&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Daedalus; Or, Science and the Future</a></em> (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, <b>1923</b>) [nonfiction: chap: in the publisher's <b>To-day and To-morrow</b> series: hb/nonpictorial]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Callinicus+A+Defence+of+Chemical+Warfare&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Callinicus: A Defence of Chemical Warfare</a></em> (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Company, <b>1925</b>) [nonfiction: chap: in the publisher's <b>To-day and To-morrow</b> series: hb/nonpictorial]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Possible+Worlds+and+Other+Essays&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Possible Worlds and Other Essays</a></em> (London: Chatto and Windus, <b>1927</b>) [nonfiction: coll: hb/nonpictorial]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Heredity+and+Politics&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Heredity and Politics</a></em> (London: George Allen and Unwin, <b>1938</b>) [nonfiction: hb/]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=A+Banned+Broadcast+and+Other+Essays&field-author=Haldane+J+B+S" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">A Banned Broadcast and Other Essays</a></em> (London: Chatto and Windus, <b>1946</b>) [nonfiction: coll: hb/nonpictorial]</li> </ul> <p><b>about the author</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li>Ronald W <a href="/entry/clark_ronald_w">Clark</a>. <em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=J+B+S+The+Life+and+Work+of+J+B+S+Haldane&field-author=Clark+Ronald+W" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">J.B.S.: The Life and Work of J.B.S. Haldane</a></em> (London: Hodder and Stoughton, <b>1968</b>) [nonfiction: hb/nonpictorial]</li> <li>Richard McLauchlan. <em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Serious+Minds+The+Extraordinary+Haldanes+of+Cloan&field-author=Richard+McLauchlan" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Serious Minds: The Extraordinary Haldanes of Cloan</a></em> (London: C Hurst and Company, <b>2023</b>) [nonfiction: hb/]</li> </ul> <p><b>links</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?14706">Internet Speculative Fiction Database</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/56009">Project Gutenberg</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://sf-encyclopedia.com/gallery.php?link=haldane_j_b_s">Picture Gallery</a></li> </ul> <p><b>previous versions of this entry</b></p> <ul><li><a href='https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/haldane_j_b_s' target='_blank'>Internet Archive</a></li></ul><br /><br /></article></div> <div class="sideBarsWrapper"> <div class="sideBarsColsWrapper clearfix"> <div class="column sideBar12 clearfix"> <div class="columnForm"><aside id="blogFeed" class="widget"> <div class="content STeditorial clearfix"> <h2>Recently visited entries<span style="background:url(/images/thingSFE2.png) !important"></span></h2><ul style='width: 50%; 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