scholarly journals Theodore M. Porter, Genetics in the Madhouse. The Unknown History of Human Heredity

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-270
Author(s):  
Michel Armatte
Keyword(s):  
Human Heredity ◽  
History Of

Eugenics in France and the Colonies

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Fogarty ◽  
Michael A. Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Place Of Birth ◽  
Social Hygiene ◽  
Human Heredity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eugenics Movement

The pre-history of French eugenics resides in early modern and Enlightenment ideas on human perfectibility, theories of generation and inheritance, and considerations of demography and national strength. This article gives a brief discussion on the study of population and the surveys which enumerate attributes of colonial populations, including age, place of birth, numbers of slaves, health information, and much more. It addresses human heredity and breeding, and its use in scientific and political lexicons. It states that the origins of the modern French eugenics movement lie in multifaceted movements for regeneration through various social hygiene and pronatalist organizations. The French Eugenics Society's enthusiastic activity and coherence gives way to organizational atrophy and marginalization.

Chromosome Photography and the Human Karyotype

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soraya de Chadarevian
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Count ◽  
Human Chromosomes ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Human Heredity ◽  
Iconic Image ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Manipulable Object

In 1956, Joe Hin Tjio and Albert Levan published a paper in which they suggested that the number of human chromosomes was 46 and not 48. The story of the recount has been the subject of numerous studies and debates. In this essay I propose to revisit the 1956 paper and the questions surrounding it by considering the chromosome images it contained. Paying attention to the images, including especially the photomicrograph that has come to represent the new chromosome count, offers the opportunity to study the history of an iconic image of genetics. In the course of this history the image moved from proving the quality of Tjio and Levan’s preparations to becoming an object of contention, proof of authorship, example to emulate, manipulable object, recognizable icon, and historical object in its own right. More generally, the essay highlights the role of visual techniques and materials in shaping knowledge and staking claims in human heredity in the mid-twentieth century. The history of postwar cytogenetics has long been overshadowed by dominant accounts of molecular approaches in biology that developed rapidly at the same time. Yet the recognition that, well into the 1970s, chromosome pictures were the most recognizable images of genetics points to the need for new approaches to the historiography.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document