Renato Dulbecco and the New Animal Virology: Medicine, Methods, and Molecules
- Creators
-
Kevles, Daniel J.
Abstract
Animal virology -- the study of viruses that prey on animals and human beings -- deserves historical treatment if only because since the 1950s it has become one of the most important fields in the biomedical sciences. Nowadays, it is central to the understanding of many infectious diseases, including AIDS, and the non-infectious scourge of cancer. Yet the development of the new animal virology -- "new" because it was a biological science as distinct from an arm of clinical practice in medicine -- is richly suggestive not only because of its salient importance to medicine but also historiographically. It provides an opportunity to examine the role of several important issues in the development of modern biology, not least the interplay between medical goals and the practice of basic science, the influence of patronage on scientific development, and the role of methods, techniques, and research schools in the advancement of a field.
Additional Information
Revision of Paper Prepared for Conference entitled "Building Molecular Biology: Comparative Studies of Ideas, Institutions, and Practices Program in Science, Technology, and Society," MIT, April 3-4, 1992. I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in pursuit of this research. I also wish to thank Ray Owen, professor emeritus of biology at the California Institute of Technology, for providing many comments and important materials; the staff of the Caltech Archives for facilitating my use of the documents in their care; Rebecca Ullrich for research assistance; and Jane Maienschein for providing n1aterials and references pertaining to the history of tissue and cell culture. Please do not reproduce or quote without author's permission.Attached Files
Updated - HumsWP-0151.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 39630
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130729-105634748
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Created
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2013-09-06Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Humanities Working Papers
- Series Name
- Humanities Working Paper
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 151