The Right Tools for the Job: At Work in Twentieth-Century Life Sciences - Couverture rigide

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0691085811 ISBN 13 : 9780691085814

Editeur : Princeton University Press, 1992

Synopsis

This volume examines scientific practice through studies of research tools in an array of 20th-century life sciences. The contributors draw upon and extend the multidisciplinary perspectives in current science studies to understand the processes through which scientific researchers constructed the right - and, in some cases, the wrong - tools for the job. The articles portray the crafting or accessing of specific materials, techniques, instruments, models, funds and work arrangements involved in doing scientific work. They demonstrate the historical and local contingencies of scientific problem construction and solving by highlighting the articulation between the tools and jobs. Indeed, the very "rightness" of the tools is contingently constructed, maintained, lost, and refashioned. The cases examined include evolutionary biology laboratory systems, the plasmid prep procedure in molecular biology, models in the human ecology of African pastoralists, the micromanometer in metabolic studies, genetics research and the role played by Planaria and corn, quantitative data in field biology, taxidermy in natural history, technical standardization in bacteriology, and the discipline of immunology as the tool for stabilizing conceptual definitions in the field.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This volume examines scientific practice through studies of research tools in an array of twentieth-century life sciences. The contributors draw upon and extend the multidisciplinary perspectives in current science studies to understand the processes through which scientific researchers constructed the right--and, in some cases, the wrong--tools for the job. The articles portray the crafting or accessing of specific materials, techniques, instruments, models, funds, and work arrangements involved in doing scientific work. They demonstrate the historical and local contingencies of scientific problem construction and solving by highlighting the articulation between the tools and jobs. Indeed, the very "rightness" of the tools is contingently constructed, maintained, lost, and refashioned. The cases examined include evolutionary biology laboratory systems (James R. Griesemer), the plasmid prep procedure in molecular biology (Kathleen Jordan and Michael Lynch), models in the human ecology of African pastoralists (Peter Taylor), the micromanometer in metabolic studies (Frederic L. Holmes), genetics research and the role played by Planaria (Gregg Mitman and Anne Fausto-Sterling) and by corn (Barbara A. Kimmelman), quantitative data in field biology (Yrj Haila), taxidermy in natural history (Susan Leigh Star), technical standardization in bacteriology (Patricia Peck Gossell), and the discipline of immunology as the tool for stabilizing conceptual definitions in the field (Peter Keating, Alberto Cambrosio, and Michael Mackenzie). Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastl

Biographie de l'auteur

Joan H. Fujimura is Associate Professor and Henry R. Luce Professor of Biotechnology and Society in the Department of Anthropology and the Interdisciplinary Program in History and Philosophy of Science at Stanford University.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Princeton University Press
• Date d'édition: 1992
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0691085811
• ISBN 13: 9780691085814
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 388
• Éditeur: Clarke Adele E., Fujimura Joan H.
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible