| dc.description.abstract | Before his death in 1926, Luther Burbank was considered one of the most important scientists at work in the United States. Ranked with the likes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, he was an innovator whose inventions were seen as improving the lives of all Americans. His specialty, though, was plants. Becoming famous for certain novelties – the spineless cactus, white blackberry, and stone-less plum, to name three – Burbank capitalized on his status as a celebrity botanist to weigh in on crucial issues of the day. A stout believer in the theory of evolution, he claimed to be harnessing the power of evolution to improve the lot of humanity through his plant innovations. He championed the ideas of Eugenics, arguing that the future of humanity depended on the careful selection of traits and the improvement of the environment in order to produce the right kinds of children to advance the human race. He was also a religious eclectic, embracing ideas like mental telepathy and claiming to have the power to heal, while also declaring himself an “infidel” like Christ, a declaration that brought him into such disrepute that it appears to have hastened his death. However, his speeches, writings, and popular articles gave celebrity support to all of these ideas and were a significant way in how Americans of the early twentieth century thought through these contentious issues. | en_GB |
