March 26, 2008

Bernal's Frankenstein

While playing the online game Scramble, which is a derivative of the classic game Boggle, I came across the word eobiont as something I missed.

I'm guessing other people missed the word too.

Looking it up at yourdictionary.com, I discovered that it is a noun, pronounced (ē′ō bī′änt′), and is defined as a hypothetical precursor of living organisms in the chemical evolution preceding the occurrence of life.

Sure, that describes it. Huh?

Freefactfinder.com goes a step further, providing two examples:


  • an artificially created creature
  • a Frankenstein's monster

That makes more sense. Or does it? If man builds an artificial lifeform in the form of a robot that has the ability to reason (or some other quality that makes it quote-unquote alive), would such a golem be an eobiont?

According to the above dictionary link, the word was coined by British physicist J. D. Bernal (1901-71). Born in Ireland, Wikipedia says the paternal Sephardic Jew and Lenin Peace Prize recipient invented X-ray crystallography.

Go figure.

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