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The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology
This fascinating study examines the rise of American molecular biology to disciplinary dominance, focusing on the period between 1930 and the elucidation of DNA structure in the mid 1950s. Research undertaken during this period, with its focus on genetic structure and function, endowed scientists with then unprecedented power over life. By viewing the new biology as both a scientific and cultural enterprise, Lily E. Kay shows that the growth of molecular biology was a result of systematic efforts by key scientists and their sponsors to direct the development of biological research toward a shared vision of science and society. She analyzes the motivations and mechanisms empowering this vision by focusing on two key Caltech and its sponsor, the Rockefeller Foundation. Her study explores a number of vital, sometimes controversial topics, among them the role of private power centers in shaping scientific agenda, and the political dimensions of "pure" research. It
also advances a sobering the cognitive and social groundwork for genetic engineering and human genome projects was laid by the American architects of molecular biology during these early decades of the project. This book will be of interest to molecular biologists, historians, sociologists, and the general reader alike.
also advances a sobering the cognitive and social groundwork for genetic engineering and human genome projects was laid by the American architects of molecular biology during these early decades of the project. This book will be of interest to molecular biologists, historians, sociologists, and the general reader alike.
320 pages, Paperback
First published December 3, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 26, 2014
"Inherent in our systematic efforts to promote the welfare of mankind there may be an assumption that… by reason and science we may govern the future of unborn generations in ways that we know are right… Do we mean that because we have learned to navigate the tides we shall also control them? … We have already begun the attempts to regulate local weather. Where do we think we shall stop — with the control of the speed of rotation of the earth, of its revolution around the sun? … Pride goeth before a fall." All our efforts will promote only disaster if they are not done in the humility appropriate to our ignorance, never forgetting that we have not made the earth or the heavens above it ...
October 10, 2024
This book examines how funding sources for scientific research can shape the organization and motivating ideologies of the projects they fund. By narrowing her focus to the new biology at Caltech and its major research sponsor, Kay aims to show that the RF's vision of a rationalized, behaviorally controlled society (i.e., eugenics) may have propelled Caltech's nascent molecular biology program away from nucleic acid research and toward a paradigm dominated by "giant protein molecules" (thought at the time to contain the stuff of heredity). This Protein Paradigm was also attractive because it fit nicely with the early 20th century's naively reductionist picture of human behavior. The fusion of WASP anxieties re: the 'moral' decay of American society with robber baron philanthropies' hegemonic control over the directions of research is illuminated by Kay's examination of internal Rockefeller Foundation documents and the personal correspondence of key figures.
While that narrative hooked me into reading, it sort of disappears between the first and last chapters. When we start drilling down into the major scientific personalities (T.H. Morgan, George Beadle, Max Delbrück, Linus Pauling) and the technological revolutions that made molecular biology possible (fruit fly genetics, X-ray crystallography, immunochemistry, electrophoresis, radioisotope labeling) the framing switches to the more localized debates between scientists and their funders. We read a lot about the ideal of cooperative science over individualistic research; interdisciplinary collaborations between biologists, chemists, and physicists; and the constant encroachment of medical and agribusiness concerns (remember, southern California) into the realm of 'pure research'. All of this is interesting enough, but since it exists within a flood of quotations from grant proposals and funding negotiations, it can make for pretty dry reading in the book's middle. If you are more interested in the social control aspect, the beginning and end of the book will likely be most relevant. World War II and its aftermath likely complicated any attempt at a continuous discourse analysis -- Kay herself points out that the language of eugenics disappears completely from RF documents around the 30s and 40s, though the social control agenda is claimed to fragment and reappear in other parts of American elite society. Social critique aside, the book is still a very useful history for anyone who cares deeply about biochemistry and genetics.
One scientist who figures in the book, Norman Horowitz, wrote a mixed-to-negative review that somehow manages to be both paternalistic and hysterical. While endorsing the factual historical content, he also accuses Kay of launching a politicized, ideological, and anti-science 'assault' on molecular biology, comparing her "anti-reductionism" to that of Lysenko(!). I'm not sure Kay succeeds in identifying some red thread of eugenic ideology running through the whole story, but there are real resonances between the pre- and post-war political visions of RF and its scientific beneficiaries. The anti-science accusation, however, is laughable. Horowitz seems most offended by Kay's decision to do his friend T.H. Morgan dirty, by ... well ... including documented evidence of his blatantly anti-semitic beliefs, I guess. So I do recommend reading Horowitz's 2-page review with the book as it provides some interesting context and, in my opinion, inadvertently demonstrates why Kay's critical perspective is so valuable.
While that narrative hooked me into reading, it sort of disappears between the first and last chapters. When we start drilling down into the major scientific personalities (T.H. Morgan, George Beadle, Max Delbrück, Linus Pauling) and the technological revolutions that made molecular biology possible (fruit fly genetics, X-ray crystallography, immunochemistry, electrophoresis, radioisotope labeling) the framing switches to the more localized debates between scientists and their funders. We read a lot about the ideal of cooperative science over individualistic research; interdisciplinary collaborations between biologists, chemists, and physicists; and the constant encroachment of medical and agribusiness concerns (remember, southern California) into the realm of 'pure research'. All of this is interesting enough, but since it exists within a flood of quotations from grant proposals and funding negotiations, it can make for pretty dry reading in the book's middle. If you are more interested in the social control aspect, the beginning and end of the book will likely be most relevant. World War II and its aftermath likely complicated any attempt at a continuous discourse analysis -- Kay herself points out that the language of eugenics disappears completely from RF documents around the 30s and 40s, though the social control agenda is claimed to fragment and reappear in other parts of American elite society. Social critique aside, the book is still a very useful history for anyone who cares deeply about biochemistry and genetics.
One scientist who figures in the book, Norman Horowitz, wrote a mixed-to-negative review that somehow manages to be both paternalistic and hysterical. While endorsing the factual historical content, he also accuses Kay of launching a politicized, ideological, and anti-science 'assault' on molecular biology, comparing her "anti-reductionism" to that of Lysenko(!). I'm not sure Kay succeeds in identifying some red thread of eugenic ideology running through the whole story, but there are real resonances between the pre- and post-war political visions of RF and its scientific beneficiaries. The anti-science accusation, however, is laughable. Horowitz seems most offended by Kay's decision to do his friend T.H. Morgan dirty, by ... well ... including documented evidence of his blatantly anti-semitic beliefs, I guess. So I do recommend reading Horowitz's 2-page review with the book as it provides some interesting context and, in my opinion, inadvertently demonstrates why Kay's critical perspective is so valuable.
December 17, 2022
Early this year, I watched the documentary, State of Mind: The Psychology of Control. It was extremely eye-opening and informative (for me). This book was mentioned as part of the resources for putting together the information expressed in that documentary. It took me some time to acquire it, but I did! This is a history book, and a great one. It’s something that can help our species better understand a field of study that affects all of our lives- molecular biology and human engineering.
How was molecular biology created?
Eugenic goals informed its design.
I didn’t let myself get distracted by the definition of the word “eugenics” because I wanted to fully comprehend the story behind it with no emotion. For me, the word evokes the faces of men who are desperate to understand their own genetic insecurities. Why are these men so desperate to discover things in other men that would make themselves superior? Why would someone want to build a human? Yet, there are so many levels of this concept to understand. I see. It’s important for me to see why things are what they are. Hmmmm.
This rabbit hole goes deeper than science into a realm that is undefinable by lab research. We are all so close to understanding.
How was molecular biology created?
Eugenic goals informed its design.
I didn’t let myself get distracted by the definition of the word “eugenics” because I wanted to fully comprehend the story behind it with no emotion. For me, the word evokes the faces of men who are desperate to understand their own genetic insecurities. Why are these men so desperate to discover things in other men that would make themselves superior? Why would someone want to build a human? Yet, there are so many levels of this concept to understand. I see. It’s important for me to see why things are what they are. Hmmmm.
This rabbit hole goes deeper than science into a realm that is undefinable by lab research. We are all so close to understanding.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews