Talk:Asa Gray/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: I'll have a go at this. Chiswick Chap (talk · contribs) 09:10, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

Comments

Lead

• The lead is rather short. In particular it doesn't mention (let alone summarize) his contribution to evolutionary thought (something the article body doesn't handle too well either, see below). Needs some expansion, probably after you've addressed the comments below.

Harvard professor

• No need for his name in the Whipple photo.
  •  Done. HalfGig talk 11:07, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

The "Asa Gray disjunction"

• What is intended by "Neogene, which is not the "early Tertiary", ..."? Some explanation is missing.
  • IIRC, @Sminthopsis84: helped me with that part. So I'm asking Sminth to chime in, if that's okay. HalfGig talk 12:05, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
    • Won't do her any harm to join in a GAN occasionally!
      •  Done Went back to the academic article and changed this. Can't recall exactly how this happened. HalfGig talk 17:41, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

Later career

• "largely promoting Darwinian ideas" ... which he didn't believe in. Hmm?

Research regarding the American West

• This looks a good place for an illustration or two, how about from Plantae Wrightianae for example? Or Plummera?
  • You already added one that takes up the section. Do you think it'd look ok with another? HalfGig talk 11:07, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
    • Very likely. We can have one left, one right a bit further down.
      • I added one from the area being discussed, the American West, and it seems to fit fine. HalfGig talk 19:49, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
        • No problem with the fit. Of course it'd be nicer to have Gray's own work to illustrate Plummera. Ideally a photo of the herbarium sheet! But the section certainly looks brighter with the examples.
•  Done HalfGig talk 17:42, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

Relationship with Darwin

• "Gray strongly objected to the idea of transmutation of species"; "Agassiz was adamantly opposed to the idea of evolution, whereas Gray was a staunch supporter". Perhaps something needs to be explained here, given the apparent straight contradiction!
  • This has come up before. Please see thread above on the talk page, Talk:Asa_Gray#Gray_and_Special_Creation, especially User:Sminthopsis84's response. Then please let me know what you think. HalfGig talk 14:08, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
    • I'm not asking about special creation, readers will just have to be very attentive to catch that point which is definitely tricky but at least logically consistent (I do think it could be made less confusing, btw), but about 'transmutation of species', i.e. evolution including speciation.

• species concept ... transmutation of species ... theistic evolution (needs to be wikilinked somewhere) ... pangenesis ... the rather long section seems to me to need some subdivision and reorganisation to point up the major intellectual ideas and their timeline of development in Gray's mind. Perhaps subsections on the Darwin friendship, theistic evolution, maybe more?

Legacy

• Section is a somewhat bitty list - one entry is a five-word sentence. Perhaps group these into themed paragraphs such as 'In his lifetime', 'Posthumous honors'. Those could be subsections.
  •  Done HalfGig talk 11:56, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
    • That does look better.

Works

• Please wikilink the co-authors. |authorlink2= etc
  •  Done HalfGig talk 11:56, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
• Personally I find it odd to have "Gray, Asa" in every entry of "Works", as they're all redundant in the context. Why not just have the list bullet and date, except for "with Torrey, John" etc when there are co-authors?
  •  Done HalfGig talk 11:41, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

Sources

• There are different Darwin Correspondence Project sources with identical text. Please clarify and relabel.
  •  Done HalfGig talk 14:00, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
    • The 1957 one says it's now not linked?
      • Yes. It looks like they combined that and the remaining web page into the new url I dropped in. HalfGig talk 19:34, 27 May 2017 (UTC)