Human Genetics in the Atomic Age; Or, How We Learned to Start Worrying and Love Mutation

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Place: 211 Dickinson Hall, Princeton University

Abstract. The second world war gave academic human genetics a reason for being. When the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, mutation, long an area of active research in animal and plant genetics, suddenly acquired political and cultural valence. The figurehead in this was Hermann Joseph Muller. The 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Muller in recognition of his 1927 proof of X ray induced mutation. The following year, Herluf Strandskov, a young but rather old-school twin geneticist from the University of Chicago, easily induced Muller to help establish a professional society for human genetics. In 1948, the American Society of Human Genetics held its first meeting; Muller was elected the first president and figurehead-in-chief; the officers (and subsequent presidents) were all sympathetic to or active in the genetic improvement of mankind. Muller’s presidential address was “Our load of mutations.” The eugenic message of this article has been noted, by Diane Paul among others. What Comfort does in this paper is "connect the dots," showing how his forum for this paper rose out of Cold War fears of mutation; illustrating how appropriate it was that Muller used the leadership of the ASHG as a bully pulpit; and suggesting that this legacy strongly colored the formative years of the society.

Nathaniel Comfort is Associate Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology at the Johns Hopkins University.