Making genes, making waves : a social activist in science

The Resource Making genes, making waves : a social activist in science
Label
Making genes, making waves : a social activist in science
Title remainder
a social activist in science
Statement of responsibility
Jon Beckwith
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
In 1969, Jon Beckwith and his colleagues succeeded in isolating a gene from the chromosome of a living organism. Announcing this startling achievement at a press conference, Beckwith took the opportunity to issue a public warning about the dangers of genetic engineering. Jon Beckwith's book, the story of a scientific life on the front line, traces one remarkable man's dual commitment to scientific research and social responsibility over the course of a career spanning most of the postwar history of genetics and molecular biology. A thoroughly engrossing memoir that recounts Beckwith's halting steps toward scientific triumphs--among them, the discovery of the genetic element that turns genes on--as well as his emergence as a world-class political activist, Making Genes, Making Waves is also a compelling history of the major controversies in genetics over the last thirty years. Presenting the science in easily understandable terms, Beckwith describes the dramatic changes that transformed biology between the late 1950s and our day, the growth of the radical science movement in the 1970s, and the personalities involved throughout. He brings to light the differing styles of scientists as well as the different ways in which science is presented within the scientific community and to the public at large. Ranging from the travails of Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb to the Human Genome Project and recent "Science Wars," Beckwith's book provides a sweeping view of science and its social context in the latter half of the twentieth century
Member of
Biography type
autobiography
Cataloging source
N$T
Dewey number
576.5/092
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Language note
English
LC call number
QH429.2.B38
LC item number
A3 2002eb
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
NLM call number
  • 2002 M-319
  • WZ 100
NLM item number
B3965m 2002

Context

Context of Making genes, making waves : a social activist in science

Work of

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