Global Transformations in the Life Sciences, 1945–1980

Description

The second half of the twentieth century brought extraordinary transformations in knowledge and practice of the life sciences. In an era of decolonization, mass social welfare policies, and the formation of new international institutions such as UNESCO and the WHO, monumental advances were made in both theoretical and practical applications of the life sciences, including the discovery of life's molecular processes and substantive improvements in global public health and medicine. Combining perspectives from the history of science and world history, this volume examines the impact of major world-historical processes of the postwar period on the evolution of the life sciences. Contributors consider the long-term evolution of scientific practice, research, and innovation across a range of fields and subfields in the life sciences, and in the context of Cold War anxieties and ambitions. Together, they examine how the formation of international organizations and global research programs allowed for transnational exchange and cooperation, but in a period rife with competition and nationalist interests, which influenced dramatic changes in the field as the postcolonial world order unfolded. Contents......Page 6 Foreword by Joanna Radin......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Introduction. Life Sciences in the Era of Decolonization, Social Welfare, and Cold War (Patrick Manning)......Page 16 Chapter 1. India Abroad: The Transnational Network of Indian-Trained Physicians after Partition (David Wright, Sasha Mullally, and Renée Saucier)......Page 30 Chapter 2. The Postcolonial Context of Daniel Bovet’s Research on Curare (Daniele Cozzoli)......Page 46 Chapter 3. The Disappointment of Smallpox Eradication and Economic Development (Bob H. Reinhardt)......Page 62 Chapter 4. "Dermatoglyphics" and Race after the Second World War: The View from East Asia (Daniel Asen)......Page 76 Chapter 5. Global Epidemiology, Local Message: Sino-American Collaboration on Cancer Research, 1969–1990 (Lijing Jiang)......Page 93 Chapter 6. From Sovietization to Global Soviet Engagement? (Doubravka Olšáková)......Page 114 Chapter 7. Sexological Spring? The 1968 International Gathering of Sexologists in Prague as a Turning Point (Kateřina Lišková)......Page 129 Chapter 8. The "Brain Gain Thesis" Revisited: German-Speaking Émigré Neuroscientists and Psychiatrists in North America (Frank W. Stahnisch)......Page 143 Chapter 9. What’s in a Zone? Biological Order versus National Identity in the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (Audra J. Wolfe)......Page 161 Chapter 10. For the Benefit of Humankind: Urgent Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, 1965–1968 (Adrianna Link)......Page 175 Chapter 11. What Counts as Threatened? Science and the Sixth Extinction (Jon Agar)......Page 195 Notes......Page 210 Bibliography......Page 274 List of Contributors......Page 318 Index......Page 324