In early January, the BBC came under fire for attempting to manipulate data surrounding fossil discoveries featured in a David Attenborough documentary.
The fossils of the recently discovered underwater monster Pliosaurus, first discovered by fossil hunter Philip Jacobs, are briefly mentioned at the end of David Attenborough's latest BBC documentary, Attenborough and the Sea Monsters. It was just that. according to Until the deadline.
“This particular find has been cited as one of the most important fossils ever discovered. It's unique. It's huge. It's important. Nevertheless, this important Regarding the discovery, Philip's name has been effectively airbrushed out of the historical record. Much of the global propaganda media does not mention him,” writes Anna Morell. petition Change the names of giant sea creatures to reflect Jacobs.
As of this writing, the petition has already received 2,285 of the required 2,500 signatures on Change.org.
“This has happened before. Remember John Harrison's longitude clock. Remember William Smith's geological maps. Remember Rosalind Franklin's work on DNA. Power and influence. “Many times, people with disabilities remove or delete the names of lesser-known citizen scientists from their records,” Morrell continued. And she's absolutely right.
This situation is reminiscent of Graham Hancock's work, which sheds light on many lost chapters of human history. Without people like Hancock, who dedicate their lives to research that few scientists – archaeologists, anthropologists, geologists – would do, our understanding of the natural world would still be in its infancy. Probably. (Related: Dear Kay: I watched “Ancient Apocalypse” and I’m worried that humanity will be wiped out by 2025)
Shame on the BBC and everyone involved for seemingly trying to erase Jacobs and so many others from the history books. I am shocked and appalled that Attenborough would do something like this so callously, decades after he was one of the most famous figures in natural history and zoology. I thought he was better than this.
