piltdown man
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: A famous anthropological hoax involving fossil fragments presented as the remains of a previously unknown early human. The forgery, constructed from a modern human skull and an orangutan jaw, was "discovered" in England and accepted by many scientists for decades before being definitively exposed as a fraud in 1953.
Usage
The term is used almost exclusively to refer to the specific historical forgery and the lesson it represents within the history of science. * The Piltdown Man was one of the most successful scientific hoaxes of the 20th century. * The revelation that the Piltdown Man was a fake shocked the scientific community. * Modern researchers study the Piltdown Man case to understand how confirmation bias can affect science.
Advanced Usage
- As a metaphor: The term can be used metaphorically to describe any elaborate deception or forgery presented as a genuine discovery, especially in academic or scientific contexts.
- The supposedly revolutionary data was eventually dismissed as a Piltdown Man of economics.
Variants and Related Words
- Piltdown forgery: A synonymous phrase for the hoax itself.
- Piltdown hoax: The most common alternative term.
- Eoanthropus dawsoni: The scientific name given to the fraudulent fossil.
Synonyms
- Forgery
- Hoax
- Fraud
- Fabrication
Related Idioms and Phrases
- A Piltdown-style hoax: Used to describe a new deception that resembles the methods or audacity of the original.
- The art forgery was so convincing, critics called it a Piltdown-style hoax.
Noun
- a supposedly primitive man later proven to be a hoax