Private Science; Biotechnology and the Rise of the Molecular Sciences.

THACKRAY, Arnold (ed.).

ISBN 10: 0812234286 / ISBN 13: 9780812234282

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998., Philadelphia:, 1998

About this Item

Series: The Chemical Sciences in Society Series. 8vo. xi, 268 pp. Figs., index. Green silver-stamped cloth, dust-jacket. Near fine. Thackray "sees his main contributions to the history of science as lying at the intersection of intellectual and institutional innovation". Arnold Thackray is an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Initially an English chemist, he became an entrepreneurial American. Dr. Thackray has been active in the public life of scholarship, serving on a number of boards, including that of the American Council on Education. He is a former President of the Society for Social Studies of Science, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr. Thackray was the Treasurer of the American Council of Learned Societies from 1985 to 1996, and is currently a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania Press. He has twice been awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, has served as George Sarton lecturer of AAAS, and is a recipient of the Dexter Award of the American Chemical Society. ISBN 10: 0812234286.

Seller Inventory # S13060

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Private Science; Biotechnology and the Rise of the Molecular Sciences.
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998., Philadelphia:
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0812234286
• ISBN 13: 9780812234282
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Molecular Biology

About this title

Synopsis

The word "Biotechnologie," used to describe technology based on biological raw materials, was coined in Hungary in 1917 by Karl Ereky, who met the threat of wartime famine by intensive fattening of huge numbers of pigs. Today, 250 public companies and perhaps another thousand privately held corporations are represented by the Biotechnology Industry Organization—all of them in the business of altering the genetic make-up of living things—and their activities have become the subject of vigorous debate among scholars, policymakers, and numerous other groups. Private Science is a contribution to that debate, focusing particularly on the relationships among corporations, universities, and national governments involved in biotechnological research. Essays in this collection examine the political and economic operations of the biotechnology industry and place those operations in historical context, tracing the history of both the institutional frameworks within which they developed and the ideas, attitudes, and language which shaped, and continue to shape, their development.

The twelve essays in the volume focus on the relationships among corporations, universities, and national governments involved in biotechnological research. They examine the political and economic operations of the industry and place those operations in historical context, tracing the history of the institutional frameworks within which they evolved as well as the ideas, attitudes, and language which shaped, and continue to shape their development.

About the Author

Edited by Arnold Thackray