Inquiry: Trying Leviathan -Graham Burnett

In 1818, through a bizarre series of circumstances, taxonomy and science were put on trial in a courthouse in New York City. What started as a minor case about the inspection of barrels of whale oil, became a showcase trial on the publics understanding of natural history and the new order of nature. The whole cause célèbre court case revolved around a deceptively simple question: was a whale  a “fish” or a “mammal”? Tune in tonight when Inquiry speaks with writer D. GRAHAM BURNETT about his thought-provoking history of science and society: Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature.