Caltech
Building on the histories of eugenics leading up to World War II and the coerced sterilization practices that have persisted down to the present day, which were explored in the fall Critical Intersections events, this month-long reading group takes a new approach. Participants will discuss the influence of the eugenics movement on later mainstream science and medicine. To explore this question the reading group will work through Lily Kay's 1993 The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the New Biology, a classic book in the history of biology and chemistry which grapples with this question in the context of the origins of molecular biology at Caltech.
Over the course of March, we'll meet each week to discuss a portion of The Molecular Vision of Life, reading approximately 70 pages to prepare for each session, on the following schedule:
March 5: Caltech and the Rockefeller Foundation before molecular biology
March 12: Biology at Caltech from flies to molecules
March 19: Bioorganic chemistry, immunochemistry, World War II, and Neurospora
March 26: Postwar science, bacteriophage, and DNA
At each meeting a facilitator from the Caltech community will present some historical and scientific context for Kay's account. We'll have an opportunity to discuss in detail Kay's account of the history of biology and chemistry at Caltech, and how it might help us think about the political uses and purposes of scientific research now.
For its inaugural year of 2020-2021, the "Critical Intersections: Conversations on Race, History, and Science" seminar series is dedicated to the history leading up to and beyond eugenics. The events are jointly organized by faculty in the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences [Maura Dykstra (Assistant Professor of History), Jennifer Jahner (Professor of English), and Hillary Mushkin (Research Professor of Art and Design)] and University Archivist Peter Collopy. Artists have been invited to participate in these events as part of the Caltech-Huntington Program in Visual Culture. Their participation in this series is supported by the James Michelin Distinguished Visitors Program.
For more information, please contact Cecilia Lu by email at cecilial@caltech.edu.