Molecular Biology and its Recent Historiography: A Transnational Quest for the ‘Big Picture’

Indeed, additional books could have been included were it not for the fact that they have been already reviewed by this author, among them Inspiring science: Jim Watson and the age of DNA (2003), ed. by Ingliss John , reviewed in American scientist, xcii (2004), 286–8, also at www.americanscientist.org; Designs for life: Molecular biology in postwar Britain (2002), by de Chadarevian Soraya , Watson and DNA: Making a scientific revolution (2003), by McElheny Victor , Rosalind Franklin: The dark lady of DNA (2002), by Maddox Brenda , and The third man of the double helix: The autobiography of Maurice Wilkins (2003), all jointly essay reviewed in Minerva, xlii (2004), 191–213; and French DNA (1999), by Rabinow Paul , and Who wrote the book of life? A history of the genetic code (2000), by Kay Lily , jointly reviewed in Technology & culture, xlii (2001), 390–2.

See my “Themes, genres and orders of legitimation in the consolidation of new disciplines: Deconstructing the historiography of molecular biology”, History of science, xxiii (1985), 73–117, and “‘New’ trends in the history of molecular biology”, Historical studies in the physical and biological sciences, xxvi (1995), 167–96, which cover four and six items, respectively.

See Teitelbaum Robert , Gene dreams: Biotech, academia, and Wall Street (New York, 1989); Bud Robert , The uses of life: A history of biotechnology (Cambridge, 1993); Wright Susan , Molecular politics: Developing American and British regulatory policy for genetic engineering, 1972–1982 (Chicago, 1994); Rabinow Paul , Making PCR: A story of biotechnology (Chicago, 1996); and Thackray Arnold (ed.), Private science: Biotechnology and the rise of the molecular sciences (Philadelphia, 1998).

See Rabinow , French DNA (ref. 1).

See Dreyfus Hubert Rabinow Paul , Michel Foucault: Between structuralism and hermeneutics (Chicago, 1979; 2nd edn, 1983); and Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault reader (New York, 1984).

See Rabinow Paul , Essays on the anthropology of reason (Princeton, 1996).

See Marcus George E. (ed.), Late editions: Cultural studies for the end of the century, esp. vol. ii: Technoscientific imaginaries (Chicago, 1995); Fischer Michael M. J. , Emergent forms of life and the anthropological voice (Durham, NC, 2003); Strathern Marilyn , Reproducing the future, Anthropology, kinship, and the new reproductive technologies (London, 1992); Rabinow Paul , Reflections on field work in Morocco (Berkeley, 1977), see also the Epilogue by Bourdieu Pierre ; and Bozarslan Hamit , “Ernest Gellner, Clifford Geertz et le Maghreb”, L'Esprit, xxxv (2005), 171–84. For a discussion of the science-related writings of Bourdieu, Geertz and Gellner, especially their models of scientific change, see Abir-Am Pnina G. , “The biotheoretical gathering: Transdisciplinary authority and the incipient legitimation of molecular biology in the 1930s: New perspectives on the historical sociology of science”, History of science, xxiii (1987), 1–70.

See Kevles Daniel J. Hood Leroy (ed.), The code of codes (Cambridge, MA, 1992); Cook-Degan Robert , Gene wars: Science, politics, and the human genome (New York, 1994); Ridley Matt , Genome (New York, 2000); Sulston John Ferry Georgina , The common thread: A story of science, politics, ethics, and the human genome (Washington, DC, 2003); Rabinow , French DNA (ref. 1); Soderqvist Thomas (ed.), The historiography of contemporary science & technology (London, 1998); and Abir-Am Pnina G. , “The rise and fall of Biogen: A case study in the transition from molecular biology to biotechnology”, paper read at the conference on “The history of pharmaceuticals”, Oxford Brookes University and St Anne's College, Oxford, 16 July 2005.

See Shreeve James , The genome war: How Craig Venter tried to capture the code of life and save the world (New York, 2005); see also Sulston Ferry , The common thread (ref. 8).

See Hemel Daniel J. , “Summers draws fire for remarks on women”, The Harvard crimson, 19 January 2005, online edition, www.thecrimson.com; WISELI (Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison), “Responses to Lawrence Summers on Women in Science”, http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu/news/Summers.htm.

For an analysis of cross-gender collaboration in both natural and social sciences see Pycior Helena M. Slack Nancy G. Abir-Am Pnina G. (ed.), Creative couples in the sciences (New Brunswick, NJ, and London, 1996), which also explores the role of complementary skills and intimacy in sustaining such collaborations. On Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson's joint fieldwork in Bali in the late 1930s, see chap. 17.

Abir-Am Pnina G. , Research schools of molecular biology in the US, UK, and France, 1930–1970: Progress reports to National Science Foundation (Washington, DC, 1986–91). This earliest and most comprehensive cross-national study of molecular biology remains to be published as a series of volumes; for a summary, see idem, “Molecular biology in the British, French, and American cultural context”, International social science journal, clxviii (2001), 181–99; special issue in June 2001 on Sciences and cultures, ed. by Vessuri Hebe and translated by UNESCO into its six official languages.

See Marcus (ed.), Technoscientific imaginaries (ref. 7); Fischer , Emergent forms of life (ref. 8); Strathern Marilyn , “The persuasive fictions of anthropology”, Current anthropology, xxviii (1987), 251–81; Kulick Don Willson Margaret (ed.), Taboo: Sex, identity and erotic subjectivity in anthropological fieldwork (London, 1995); Latour Bruno Woolgar Steve , Laboratory life: The construction of scientific facts (Princeton, 1986; London, 1979); Haraway Donna J. , Modest_witness@second_millenium.FemaleMan™_meets_oncomouse™: Feminism and technoscience (London, 1997); Reid Roddey Traweek Sharon (ed.), Doing science + culture (London, 2000); and Goodman Alan H. Heath Deborah Lindee M. Susan (ed.), Genetic nature/culture (London, 2003).

For recent additions to this fast growing literature see Reardon Jenny , Race to the finish: Identity and governance in an age of genomics (in-formation) (Princeton, 2005); Shreeve , The genome war (ref. 9); and Shapin Steve , “University-industry relations: Getting perspective”, lecture at the Boston Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, 3 November 2005.

Rabinow , French DNA (ref. 1).

See ref. 13. For a combination of history and ethnography in studies of molecular biology see Abir-Am Pnina G. , “The 50th anniversary of the first protein X-ray photo: Toward a historical ethnography of scientific anniversaries”, Social epistemology, vii (1992), 323–54; see also the responses by anthropologists and philosophers, and the author's replies to each, ibid., 355–87; idem, “The first American and French commemorations in molecular biology: From collective memory to comparative history”, in Abir-Am Pnina G. Elliott Clark A. (ed.), Commemorative practices in science (Chicago, 2000), 324–72.

Abir-Am , “Molecular biology in the British, French, and American cultural context” (ref. 12).

Strasser further develops this work, while focusing on the case study of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Geneva, in his La fabrique d'une nouvelle science: La biologie moléculaire à l'âge atomique, 1945–1964 (Florence, 2006). He combines a detailed “local” study of laboratory practices in electron microscopy and phage genetics with a global study of European molecular biology in the political and policy context of “the atomic age”, while comparing British, French, German, and Swiss research centres. He also examines transatlantic exchanges between Switzerland and the US, focusing on both intra-European and transatlantic cooperation in the two decades after the Second World War.

For a concise perspective on the history of gender in science and technology, see Abir-Am Pnina G. , “Women in science: A historical perspective”, World science report (Oxford, 1996), 199–212. On Franklin see Maddox , Rosalind Franklin (ref. 1); Sayre Anne , Rosalind Franklin and DNA (New York, 1975, 2003); Elkin Lynne Osman , “Rosalind Franklin and the double helix”, Physics today, xlii (2003), 42–48; and Klug Aaron Sir , “The discovery of the double helix DNA”, Journal of molecular biology, lxvi (2004), 3–42. On Hodgkin see Dodson Guy Glusker Jenny P. Sayre David (ed.), Structural studies on biological molecules: Essays in honour of Dorothy Hodgkin (Oxford, 1981); Ferry Georgina , Dorothy Hodgkin: A life (Oxford, 1998).

See for example, Gemelli Giuliana Picard Jean-François Schneider William H. (ed.), Managing medical research in Europe: The role of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1920s-1950s (Bologna, 1999); Gemelli Giuliana (ed.), The “Unacceptables”: American foundations and refugee scholars between the Two World Wars and after (Brussels, 2000); idem (ed.), American foundations and large scale research: Construction and transfer of knowledge (Bologna, 2001); Abir-Am Pnina G. , “The Rockefeller Foundation and the rise of molecular biology”, Nature reviews — Molecular cell biology, iii (2002), 65–70, which also includes an extensive bibliography.

On the international context of protein structure see Abir-Am Pnina G. , “Small versus large-scale investments in protein research: The Rockefeller Foundation's international network, 1930–1960”, in Gemelli (ed.), American foundations and large scale research (ref. 20), 220–41; on Lipmann, see his Wanderings of a biochemist. (Cambridge, MA, 1975); on Zinder see his “Life with Jim” in Inglis (ed.), Inspiring science (ref. 1), 243–56.

All essays, except Moulin's, in Abir-Am Elliott (ed.), Commemorative practices in science (ref. 16). For Moulin's see Abir-Am (ed.), La mise en mémoire de la science: Pour une ethnographie historique des rites commémoratifs (Paris, 1998), 207–24.

On DNA research at RIMR see Dubos René , The professor, the institute, and DNA (New York, 1976); McCarthy Maclyn , The transforming principle: Discovering that genes are made of DNA (New York, 1995). On its popular status, see Nelkin Dorothy Lindee M. Susan , The DNA mystique: The gene as a cultural icon (San Francisco, 1995; New York, 2005). On recent books related to DNA history, including many references to DNA literature, see Abir-Am , “DNA at 50: Institutional and biographical perspectives” (ref. 1). The omission of a paper or a monograph on DNA is particularly glaring in view of its status as the most important discovery made at RIMR; the absence of an historical study that uses recently available archival material; and the fact that the Rockefeller University undertook numerous activities related to its centennial in 2001, thus suggesting that budgetary constraints played no role (e.g. conferences, exhibitions, banquets, calendars, a coffee table elegant commemorative volume, and the collection edited by Stapleton, whose authors received grants from a centennial-related special funding initiative for enhancing access to RIMR's archives).

Harden Victoria A. , Inventing the NIH: Federal biomedical research policy, 1887–1937 (Baltimore, MD, 1986).

For example, Picard Jean-François , La fondation Rockefeller et la recherche médicale (Paris, 1999); Gemelli Giuliana Picard Jean-François Schneider William (ed.), Managing medical research in Europe: The role of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1920–1950s (Brussels, 1999).

On the French school of molecular biology see a chapter with this title in Morange's Michel Histoire de la biologie moléculaire (Paris, 1994); Burian R. M. Gayon J. , “The French school of genetics: From physiological and population genetics to regulatory molecular genetics”, Annual review of genetics, xxxiii (1999), 313–49; Abir-Am Pnina G. , “Molecular biology in the British, French, and American cultural context” (ref. 12); idem, “The first American and French anniversaries in molecular biology” (ref. 18).

Journée d'étude: La “Big Science” dans les sciences biologiques et médicates au xx siècle, 27 June 2000; sponsored by CRHST-CSI-CNRS and Maison Suger / Maison des Sciences de 1'Homme, Paris; organized by Abir-Am Pnina G. Krige John ; Gaudillière Picard were among eight invited speakers from Europe and the US.

See Galison Peter Hevly Bruce (ed.), Big science (Cambridge, MA, 1992).

Quirke Viviane , “French biomedicine in the mirror of America”, Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, xxxv (2004), 765–76.

Morange , Histoire de la biologie moléculaire (ref. 24); also in English, idem, A history of molecular biology (Cambridge, MA, 1998).

See Debru Claude , Gayon Jean Picard Jean François (ed.), Les sciences biologiques et médicates en France, 1920–1950 (Paris, 1994); Burian Richard Gayon Jean Zallen Doris , “The singular fate of genetics in the history of French biology, 1900–1940”, Journal of the history of biology, xxi (1984), 357–402; Zallen Doris , “Louis Rapkine and the restoration of French science after the Second World War”, French historical studies, xvii (1991), 5–37; and Lowy Ilana , “On hybridizations, networks, and new disciplines: The Pasteur Institute and the development of microbiology in France”, Studies in history and philosophy of science, xxv (1994), 655–88.

See Abir-Am , Research schools of molecular biology in UK, US, and France, 1930–1970 (ref. 12); idem, “From multidisciplinary collaboration to transnational objectivity: International space as constitutive of molecular biology, 1930–1970”, in Crawford Elizabeth Shinn Terry Sorlin Sverker (ed.), Denationalizing science: The contexts of international scientific practice (Dordrecht, 1993), 153–87; and Strasser , La fabrique d'une nouvelle science (ref. 18).

See Rheinberger Hans-Jorg , Toward a history of epistemic things: Protein synthesis in the test tube (Stanford, 1997); and Kohler Robert , Lords of the fly (Chicago, 1994).

For example van Helvoort Ton , “History of virus research in the 20th century: The problem of conceptual continuity”, History of science, xxxii (1994), 185–235; and idem, “What is a virus? The case of TMV”, Studies in history and philosophy of science, xx (1991), 557–88. Rasmussen Nicolas , Picture control: The electron microscope and the transformation of American biology, 1940–1960 (Stanford, 1997) has a chapter on TMV.

For example, Burian Richard M. , “How the choice of experimental organisms matters: Epistemological reflections on an aspect of biological practice”, Journal of the history of biology, xxvi (1993), 351–68; Keller Evelyn Fox , “Models of and models for: Theory and practice in contemporary biology”, Philosophy of science, xlvii (2000), S72–S86; idem, Making sense of life: Explaining biological development with models, metaphors, and machines (Cambridge, MA, 2002); and Ankeny Rachel A. , “Model organisms as models: Understanding the ‘lingua franca’ of the Human Genome Project”, Philosophy of science, xlviii (2001), S251–S261.

Holmes's Frederic Lawrence Investigative pathways: Patterns and stages in the careers of experimental scientists (New Haven, 2004). Holmes's study of Seymour Benzer's experiments on gene structure, to be published post-humously (ref. 1), is also included as a case study illustrating Holmes's primary interest in a general interpretation of scientific creativity.

For the concept of an “existential biography” in science see Soderqvist Thomas , Science as autobiography: The troubled life of Niels Jerne (New Haven, 2003). See also the review by Mazumdar Pauline , “Immunocompetent”, American scientist, xlii (2004), 90–91.

On the construction of Delbruck as the founder of the Phage Group see Abir-Am Pnina G. , “The first American and French commemorations in molecular biology …”, in Abir-Am Elliott (ed.), Commemorative practices in science (ref. 16), 324–72. See also Luria Salvador E. , A slot machine: A broken test tube (New York, 1984); and Selya Rena , “Salvador Luria: Scientist and social activist”, doctoral thesis, Harvard University, 2002.

See Strathern Dame Marilyn , Property, substance, and effect: Anthropological essays on persons and things (London, 1999); idem, “What is intellectual property after?”, in Law John Hussard John (ed.), Actor network theory and after (Oxford, 1999), 156–80; and Biagioli Mario Galison Peter (ed.), Scientific authorship: Credit and intellectual property in science (London, 2003).

See Megged Aharon , The story of the Selvino children: Journey to the Promised Land (London, 2002). This unique story is also available as a book in Italian and Hebrew, and as a documentary film in Hebrew.

Kemp Martin , Visualizations: The nature book of art and science (Cambridge, 2000). On science and art see also Jones Caroline A. Galison Peter L. (ed.), with Slaton Amy , Picturing science: Producing art (London, 1998); and Kevles Bettyann , “DNA art”, paper read at a conference on “DNA at 50”, held in the Caspary Auditorium of Rockefeller University, New York City, 14 May 2003.

The issue of a ‘big picture’ in molecular biology has been discussed in some detail at a conference, “History and Epistemology of Molecular Biology and Beyond: Problems and Perspectives”, 13–15 October 2005, held at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, co-sponsored by the Pasteur Institute and the French Society for the History and Epistemology of Life Sciences, and organized by Soraya de Chadarevian and Hans-Jorg Rheinberger. Hopefully, the conference's proceedings will seek systematically to address this issue, while including comparative, transnational research that is necessary for exploring the transition from local case-studies to global events.