Book: Prematurity in Scientific Discovery
Forwarded to HISTNEUR-L from H-SCI-MED-TECH. --RJ --- Begin Forwarded Message --- Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:41:30 -0500 From: "Phillip Thurtle, H-SCI-MED-TECH" [smtedit@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU] Subject: NEW BOOK: Prematurity in Scientific Discovery Sender: "H-NET List on the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology" [H-SCI-MED-TECH@H-NET.MSU.EDU] From: Laura Driussi [laura.driussi@ucpress.edu] Dear H-SCI-MED-TECH I am writing to let you know that we have made a chapter available on a special web site for the following new book: Prematurity in Scientific Discovery: On Resistance and Neglect http://go.ucpress.edu/prematurity "One of the depressing by-products of the fantastically rapid progress that was made in molecular genetics in the past twenty-five years is that now merely middle-aged participants in its early development are obliged to look back upon their early work from a depth of historical perspective that, in the case of biological specialties that came into flower in earlier times, had opened up only after all the witnesses of the first blossoming were long dead...Thus, in looking back on the history of molecular genetics from the viewpoint of my own experiences, I have found that one of its most famous incidents, Oswald T. Avery's identification of DNA as the active principle in bacterial transformation and, hence, as genetic material, illuminates a general problem of cultural history. The case of Avery brings, I think, insights into the question of whether it is meaningful, or merely tautological, to allege that a discovery is 'ahead of its time,' or premature." So begins the insightful second chapter--online in its entirety--edited by Ernest B. Hook, Professor at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, in which an eminent group of scientists, historians, sociologists and philosophers focus on the fascinating problem: why are some discoveries rejected at a particular time but later seen to be valid? Please feel free to link to the site chapter from your site, to notify your members via email, or to contact me about any other possibilities for notifying interested people about these chapters online. http://go.ucpress.edu/prematurity -- Laura Driussi, Assistant Marketing Director University of California Press 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 laura.driussi@ucpress.edu 510-643-1036, fax 510-643-7127 http://www.ucpress.edu Featured books of the month: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/featured.html --- End Forwarded Message ---