The Molecular Vision of Life by Kay

The Molecular Vision of Life by Kay

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.

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, vol43, no.5, July 1997 *

Lily E. Kay received a Ph.D. in the history of science from the Johns Hopkins University in 1987, and was a recipient of a Smithsonian Fellowship at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. in 1984. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in bibliography at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, and has taught at the University of Chicago. Since 1989 she has been an assistant professor of history of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780195111439
ISBN 10	0195111435
Title	The Molecular Vision of Life
Author	Kay
Series	Monographs On The History And Philosophy Of Biology
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	1997-01-09
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.