Language Atlas
Things this atlas does not know. Each entry is a question that specialists
have posed and not settled, recorded with what would actually resolve it and which
expertise the answer needs.
These are kept deliberately, rather than quietly omitted. An atlas that shows
only what it is sure of implies a confidence it has not earned, and the gaps are often where
the interesting work is. Several sit exactly where two fields fail to meet: identifying the
hyssop of the Hebrew Bible needs a botanist and a philologist of Biblical Hebrew, and neither
one settles it alone.
Grouped by the expertise recorded on each question, in the words the question itself uses. Most of these are held by a single question.
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Showing 1 of 608 questions, filtered to 1 specialty.
History of science; architectural history; archival research at Duke University 1
The Pearce-Pratt Distance Series
Did the physical layout of the Duke buildings permit Hubert Pearce to observe the target cards during the Pearce-Pratt distance series?
Open The Pearce-Pratt Distance Series
Why It Is Open C. E. M. Hansel examined the buildings in the 1960s and argued that a route existed by which the subject, unobserved in the library, could have reached a position from which the cards were visible. Rhine and Pratt disputed the sightlines, the timing, and whether such an absence would have gone unnoticed. Neither side conceded, and the buildings have since been altered, so the question can no longer be settled by inspection.
What Would Settle It Original architectural plans of the Social Sciences building and the campus library as they stood in 1933 and 1934, together with any contemporaneous record of Pearce's whereabouts during the sessions.
Expertise Needed History of science; architectural history; archival research at Duke University
Question posed in
ESP: A Scientific Evaluation, C. E. M. Hansel.