An automated method of measuring cranial shape is described and tested on groups of extant and fossil hominoids. The method of Fourier analysis is applied to the lateral cranial projections. The patterns and extents of discrimination produced by the sine‐cosine and amplitude phase‐lag spectra are compared. The sine‐cosine series is utilized to determine the interrelationships of extinct and extant hominoids. It is demonstrated that the patterns of discrimination are consistent with current taxonomic classifications of the extant species. It seems that Fourier analysis can, in certain circumstances, offer advantages over more traditional methods of shape measurement, especially because of its relative independence of the need to define ‘homologous landmarks’.

Erwin Schrödinger's 1944 publication What is Life? is a classic of twentieth century science writing. In his book, Schrödinger discussed the chromosome fibre as the seat of heredity and variation thanks to a hypothetical aperiodic structure - a suggestion that famously spurred on a generation of scientists in their pursuit of the gene as a physico-chemical entity. While historical attention has been given to physicists who were inspired by the book, little has been written about its biologist readers. This paper examines the case of the English evolutionary botanist and cytologist Irène Manton, who took an interest in What is Life? for its relevance to her own research in chromosome structure as a clue to plant phylogeny. Drawing on recently discovered correspondence between Manton and Schrödinger, the paper reconstructs Manton 's path to the book (including the role of the chemist-philosopher Michael Polanyi) and her response to it by way of throwing new light on a pivotal moment in the history of the debate on chromosome structure.