Themes, Genres and Orders of Legitimation in the Consolidation of New Scientific Disciplines: Deconstructing the Historiography of Molecular Biology

Scientific revolutions, specialization and the discovery of the structure of DNA: toward a new picture of the development of the sciences

“…Some histories are mainly focused on the role of the discovery of the structure of DNA (Olby 1994); others examine the impact of information theories on the methodology of the emerging new discipline (Sarkar 1996). Finally, it is worth mentioning that the history of molecular biology has also provoked historiographical debates on how such a history should be reconstructed (Abir-Am 1985Judson 1980).…”

Towards future archives and historiographies of ‘big biology’

“…Aicardi shows that a different interpretation of Crick's life significantly widens both the testimonies that are collected and the archival materials that are found. Her argument echoes other historians' critiques of the limitations of memory (Gaudillière, 1997), and the distinction between first and second order accounts (Abir-Am, 1985). Proactivity in history, as García-Sancho argues in his contribution, involves designing a second order account whose aims and motivations are different from the first order account of scientists.…”

Reinventing Richard Goldschmidt: Reputation, Memory, and Biography

“…Gould's commemoration of Goldschmidt is a bit odd, because he is celebrating an anti-hero, not a hero as is more commonly found in scientists' historical narratives (Abir-Am, 1982, Sapp, 1990Cantor, 1996;Smocovitis, 2005, p. 46). ''Hero myths'' and origin stories are a well recognized form that typically loosely resemble a biography, but frequently are directed at legitimating some aspect of contemporary science (Abir-Am, 1982, 1999.…”

“…''Hero myths'' and origin stories are a well recognized form that typically loosely resemble a biography, but frequently are directed at legitimating some aspect of contemporary science (Abir-Am, 1982, 1999. In this sense, they are similar to the kinds of public myths that Nathanial Comfort uses to describe the reception of Barbara McClintock (Comfort, 2008), or the ''different lives'' that Jan Sapp describes when he analyzes the wide ranging accounts of Gregor Mendel's life (Sapp, 1990).…”

“…Narratives of the scientist-hero often isolate the hero from their non-scientific life, isolate the hero from collaborators and supporting institutions, and isolate the hero from their cultural, social, and political contexts. The result is an individualist and triumphal narrative that supports an image of science as a privileged and value neutral pursuit (Abir-Am, 1982). Consider the stories of Gregor Mendel's long neglect.…”