SCIENCE, HISTORY AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM A TRIBUTE TO EVERETT MENDELSOHN BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editors ROBERTS. COHEN, Boston University JURGEN RENN, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University of Athens Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKYt (Editor 1960-1997) VOLUME228 SCIENCE, HISTORY AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM A TRIBUTE TO EVERETT MENDELSOHN Edited by GARLAND E. ALLEN Washington University, St. Louis, U.S.A. and ROY M. MacLEOD University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. ISBN 978-90-481-5968-0 ISBN 978-94-017-2956-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-2956-7 Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2001 No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permis sion from the copyright owner. Everett Mendelsohn, 1997. Photograph by Martha Stewart TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ix GARLAND E. ALLEN and ROY M. MacLEOD I Introduction I. Historical Studies in the Life Sciences and Society JANE MAIENSCHEIN I Advocating the History of Science 23 SHIRLEY ROE I Radical Nature in the Encyclopedie 37 FREDERICK B. CHURCHILL I August Weismann and Ferdinand Dickel: Testing the Dzierzon System 61 RAPHAEL FALK I Mendel's Hypothesis 77 LILY E. KAYt I Biopower: Reflections on the Rise of Molecular Biology 87 II. Perspectives on the Social Studies of Science ANNE HARRINGTON I China, "Qi," and the Challenges of Engaged Scholarship 105 HELGA NOWOTNY I How to Tell A Story in the Sciences: Settings and Lessons 123 PETER BUCK I A Healthy Regard for the Facts 137 JEAN-JACQUES SALOMON I The Dark Side of Progress 153 PETER WEINGART I The Loss of Distance: Science in Transition 167 GARLAND E. ALLEN I Radical Politics and Marxism in the History of Science 185 GARY WERSKEY I "The Social Context of Science": Social Sciences as a Way of Life and Learning 203 vii Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS III: Science, Society and the Social Responsibility of Scientists MARK V. BARROW, Jr. I Naturalists as Conservationists: American Scientists, Social Responsibility, and Political Activism before the Bomb 217 ROBERT N. PROCTOR I Human Experimental Abuse, in and out of Context 235 MARK B. ADAMS I Networks in Action: The Khrushchev Era, the Cold War and the Transformation of Soviet Science 255 GILBERT F. WHITTEMORE I The Multidimensional Chess of Science and Society: A Postwar Debate over Plutonium Exposure 277 ELIZABETH S. WATKINS I Radioactive Fallout and Emerging Environmentalism: Cold War Fears and Public Health Concerns, 1954-1963 291 ROY MacLEOD I "Strictly for the Birds": Science, the Military and the Smithsonian's Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, 1963-1970 307 MICHAEL A. FORT UN I The Human Genome Project: Past, Present and Future Anterior 339 IV. Postscript: Everett Mendelsohn and the Middle East YARON EZRAHI I "Speaking Justice to Power: Everett Mendelsohn as an International Public Intellectual 365 Bibliography: The Published Writings of Everett Mendelsohn 369 Notes on Contributors 375 Index 383 PREFACE "To earn a degree, every doctoral candidate should go out to Harvard Square, find an audience, and explain his [or her] dissertation". Everett Mendelsohn's worldly advice to successive generations of students, whether apocryphal or real, has for over forty years spoken both to the essence of his scholarship, and to the role of the scholar. Possibly no one has done more to establish the history of the life sciences as a recognized university discipline in the United States, and to inspire a critical concern for the ways in which science and technology operate as central features of Western society. This book is both an act of homage and of commemoration to Professor Mendelsohn on his 70th birthday. As befits its subject, the work it presents is original, comparative, wide-ranging, and new. Since 1960, Everett Mendelsohn has been identified with Harvard Univer sity, and with its Department of the History of Science. Those that know him as a teacher, will also know him as a scholar. In 1968, he began- and after 30 years, has just bequeathed to others - the editorship of the Journal of the History of Biology, among the earliest and one of the most important publications in its field. At the same time, he has been a pioneer in the social history and sociology of science. He has formed particularly close working relationships with colleagues in Sweden and Germany - as witnessed by his editorial presence in the Sociology of Science Yearbook. Less visible, but even more in keeping with the man, has been his contribution - both in person and in print - to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Whether in his own university, or at a broader level, Everett Mendelsohn has always acted on a global stage. He has contributed to the work of UNESCO and other interna tional organizations, and has been honored by scholars throughout the world. This volume offers the editors - both, former students - as well as other students and colleagues who number among the leading scholars in their fields - an opportunity to give thanks to a respected teacher and friend. The volume is divided into four sections, each representing an aspect of Everett Mendel sohn's diverse career, reflecting some of the many areas in which his influence has been felt. Part I focuses upon the history of the life sciences, with essays on ix G. E. Allen and R.M. MacLeod (eds.), Science, History and Social Activism: A Tribute to Everett Mendelsohn, ix-x. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. X PREFACE subjects ranging from radical views of nature in the enlightenment to Mendelism and the rise of molecular biology. Part II continues with contribu tions to the social studies of science, ranging from the concept of science as social practice to the social movements in science of the 1960s and 1970s. It concludes with a reflection by one who, having taken his courses, and was inspired by his example, left academia for other walks of life. For Everett Mendelsohn, knowing the social roles that scientists play is central to our understanding of science. Part III therefore focuses upon the social responsi bility of scientists, a topic of considerable interest to Everett from early on in his career. In Part IV, which concludes the book, a colleague reviews Everett's role and work in the Middle East peace process with the American Friends Service Committee - an important aspect of his life that has rarely found mention in print, but is well remembered by many who have never known him as a university professor. For their assistance in the preparation of this volume, we are indebted to Mrs. Irma Morose of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, who mastered so magnificently the challenging process of preparing camera-ready copy; toMs Jill Barnes of the University of Sydney and to Everett's assistant Yuri Hospadar, who helped assemble the complete bibliography, published at the end of this volume. We also thank the staff at Kluwer Academic Publishers, especially Charles Erkelens, who saw the manuscript through the final stages of production. The index of proper names was expertly prepared by Kim Klein man. The entire project was initially encoltraged by Annie Kuipers, now retired from Kluwer. We are also indebted to Everett Mendelsohn himself, for agreeing to be interviewed in Oxford and Boston during the summer of 2000. It is a measure of the rna~ that he would wish to be involved in the preparation of such a work, and actively so. We look forward to seeing more from his pen, as formal retirement beckons, and as new opportunities arise, for one to whom the very idea of scholarly inactivity is assuredly absurd. Garland E. Allen and Roy M. MacLeod St. Louis, Missouri, and Sydney, Australia GARLAND E. ALLEN AND ROY MacLEOD INTRODUCTION "All new developments in the history of knowledge have been due to those scientists who did more in their social roles than their critics wanted and expected them to do". 1 So Florian Znaniecki concluded his landmark con tribution to the sociology of knowledge. Alongside the technologist and the sage, the scholar who systematizes knowledge and the scholar who fights for truth, we see from time to time emerge those whom we call "explorers, those who create new knowledge", and who stand at the apogee of human achieve ment. Their achievement, however, lies not only in the domain of ideas. They are above all those who see and understand cultural realities, and who "accept as normal in the domain of knowledge ceaseless and unexpected change". 2 Znaniecki's description fits well the character and life of Everett Mendel sohn, mentor and friend, to whom the following essays are dedicated. For over forty years, Everett Mendelsohn's career has rested squarely on his service to Harvard as classroom teacher and mentor to thousands of graduate and undergraduate students; to the history of science through his writings and penetrating questions at meetings far and wide, and to the international community through his wide-ranging peace efforts in conjunction with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). During this time, he has seen massive changes in all three areas - indeed, he has been an agent of change, both in his profession, and in the way in which his profession is seen by others. From fledgling beginnings in Widener Library, in the shadow of George Sarton, the history of science has become an established feature not only at Harvard, but many other universities around the world. Today, over 600 undergraduates at Harvard each year take courses in the History of Science Department, and over 400 take the courses that Mendelsohn offers. His Social Sciences 119 (currently Historical Study A 18), "Science and Society in the Twentieth Century", is among Harvard's most popular undergraduate offer ings. Few who attend his lectures fail to be impressed by his easy familiarity with complex issues, and his ability to motivate the least motivated. For some, it becomes an experience in learning how to think about professional issues as matters of public interest. For others, it becomes an introduction to a world in G. E. Allen and R. M. MacLeod ( eds.), Science, History and Social Activism: A Tribute to Everett Mendelsohn, 1-20. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.