Inbreeding, eugenics, and Helen Dean King (1869–1955)

Abstract

Helen Dean King's scientific work focused on inbreeding using experimental data collected from standardized laboratory rats to elucidate problems in human heredity. The meticulous care with which she carried on her inbreeding experiments assured that her results were dependable and her theoretical explanations credible. By using her nearly homozygous rats as desired commodities, she also was granted access to venues and people otherwise unavailable to her as a woman. King's scientific career was made possible through her life experiences. She earned a doctorate from Bryn Mawr College under Thomas Hunt Morgan and spent a productive career at the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philadelphia where she had access to the experimental subjects which made her career possible. In this paper I examine King's work on inbreeding, her participation in the debates over eugenics, her position at the Wistar Institute, her status as a woman working with mostly male scientists, and her involvement with popular science.

“Her Joyous Enthusiasm for Her Life-Work …”: Early Women Authors in The American Naturalist

“…Valuable works are available on women's experiences in certain subfields of biology, including ecology (Langenheim 1996) and genetics (Richmond 2007b), and at certain key institutions, including Wellesley College (Palmieri 1997) and Radcliffe College (Tonn 2017). Finally, biographies and autobiographies have been written of a handful of our authors (Hyde 1938;Warner 1979;Keenan 1983;Miller 2007;Ogilvie 2007;Richmond 2007a;Palumbi and Sotka 2012;LoPresti and Weber 2016).…”

Women in the Historiography of Biology

“…Mozans (1991). Indeed, the only woman scientist generally identified was Nobel Laureate Marie Curie (Ogilvie 1996). Within a decade, however, the situation had changed significantly.…”

“…Marilyn Ogilvie's Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century Ogilvie (1986) was foundational. She eventually published two more volumes, including one co-edited by Joy Harvey (Ogilvie 1996;Ogilvie and Harvey 2000).…”

“…For the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany, see Stamhuis (1995), Stamhuis and Monsen (2007), and Stamhuis and Richmond (2014). For the USA, see Ogilvie (2007), Richmond (2012), and Dietrich and Tambasco (2007). On cytogenetics, see Brush (1978), Ogilvie and Choquette (1981), Cross and Steward (1993), and Echeverría (2000) (all of which focus on the work of Nettie Marie Stevens); see also Richmond (2010), and Williams (2016).…”

Animal Models in Pharmacogenomics

“…Inbred rat strains were first established by Helen Dean King nearly a century ago [11], and they are used for research into a broad array of human conditions and diseases, such as addiction, aging, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, metabolic disorders, and cancer. Inbred rat strains were first established by Helen Dean King nearly a century ago [11], and they are used for research into a broad array of human conditions and diseases, such as addiction, aging, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, metabolic disorders, and cancer.…”