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Apr 30, 2024
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HC 882 - Secrets of Life: The History of Genetics in the 20th Century3 credits
This course surveys the history of geneticsone of the paradigmatic life sciences of the twentieth centuryfrom experimental plant and animal breeding at the dawn of the twentieth century to the completion of the Human Genome Project by the century’s end. We will follow a series of famous geneticists in their quest to understand and ultimately to control the hereditary substance, from the first coining of the word “gene” in 1909 to present-day attempts to manufacture life in the test tube. From the invention of hybrid corn and other new synthetic species during the emergence of classical genetics, to the discovery of the structure of DNA, the cracking of the genetic code, and the rise of biotechnology, geneticists have sought to use their knowledge to find solutions to humanity’s many ills. They have alsosometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertentlypromoted the social application of genetical principles in a field often described as “eugenics.” Science, technology, society, and polit
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