The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology - Couverture rigide

Kay, Lily E.

 
9780195058123: The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 0195058127 ISBN 13 : 9780195058123
Editeur : Oxford University Press Inc, 1992

Synopsis

Molecular biology as a distinct scientific discipline had its origins in chemistry and physical biochemistry, gradually emerging in the period between 1930 and the elucidation of DNA in the mid 1950s. Today this field has risen to a dominant position, and with its focus on deciphering genetic structure, it has endowed scientists with unprecedented power over life. In this fascinating study, however, Lily Kay argues that molecular biology did not "evolve" in a random fashion but,rather, was the result of systematic efforts by key scientists and their supporting foundations to direct the development of biological research toward a preconceived vision of science and society. The author traces and analyses the conceptual roots of molecular biology and the social matrix in whichit was developed, focusing on the role of leading researchers headquartered at Caltech, and on the Rockefeller Foundation's sponsorship of the new science. The study thus explores a number of vital, sometimes controversial topics, among them the role of private power centres in shaping the scientific agenda, the political aspects of "pure" research, and how genetic engineering was envisioned by some as a potential tool for social intervention. This book will be of special interest to allmolecular biologists, as well as historians and sociologists of science. However the story told has broad significance, and it is written in an accessible, nontechnical manner, fully understandable to general readers.

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Présentation de l'éditeur

Molecular biology as a distinct scientific discipline had its origins in chemistry and physical biochemistry, gradually emerging in the period between 1930 and the elucidation of DNA in the mid 1950s. Today this field has risen to a dominant position, and with its focus on deciphering genetic structure, it has endowed scientists with unprecedented power over life. In this fascinating study, however, Lily Kay argues that molecular biology did not "evolve" in a random fashion but, rather, was the result of systematic efforts by key scientists and their supporting foundations to direct the development of biological research toward a preconceived vision of science and society. The author traces and analyses the conceptual roots of molecular biology and the social matrix in which it was developed, focusing on the role of leading researchers headquartered at Caltech, and on the Rockefeller Foundation's sponsorship of the new science. The study thus explores a number of vital, sometimes controversial topics, among them the role of private power centres in shaping the scientific agenda, the political aspects of "pure" research, and how genetic engineering was envisioned by some as a potential tool for social intervention. This book will be of special interest to all molecular biologists, as well as historians and sociologists of science. However the story told has broad significance, and it is written in an accessible, nontechnical manner, fully understandable to general readers.

Revue de presse

the book has the great merit to give insight in the expectation of young American scientists and in what troubles their minds! (Cellular and Molecular Biology, vol.43, no.5, July 1997)

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Oxford University Press Inc
Date d'édition
1992
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0195058127
ISBN 13 
9780195058123
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
314
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780195111439: The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0195111435 ISBN 13 :  9780195111439
Editeur : Oxford University Press, 1997
Couverture souple