2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
theory that emerged during the second half of the 19th century when much interest
was shown in the substance most often called “protoplasm” and its possible role
as the originally active substance of all life. I will use reactions to Heitzmann’s
Bioplasson Doctrine, essentially, itself a theory about the role of protoplasm, in
order to investigate 19th century ideas concerning observation, imagination, and
reason in microscopic work. I will incorporate a discussion of visual imagery as
ocular evidence in my investigation of these ideas.
Rachel␣ A. Ankeny Princeton University
Public Versus Private Knowledge:
The Historical Evolution of Community Standards
for Data Sharing in the Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) has become the largest ‘big science’ project
in the history of the biological sciences. This paper will examine debates
surrounding the status of data gathered through the HGP, and particularly
conflicts regarding maintaining open access to the genomic sequences
generated within the broader scientific community. Traditional ideals of data
sharing within scientific communities have been forced to be reexamined and
renegotiated in the process of the HGP. Recent pressures caused by the growth
of more commercialized, private projects also aimed at sequencing the genomes
of the human and other organisms have revealed the need for better historical
understanding and contextualization of the development of such standards
within biological communities and between public and private entities. It will
be argued that various communities primarily focused on particular model
organisms provided much of the initial impetus to retain the public nature of
the project, in large part because many of the same scientists who were involved
in early organism genome projects were also integral participants in the
planning of large-scale projects within the HGP. Special attention will be drawn
to various technologies and models of communication that had been historically
successful in organism-based research that were applied in modified forms
during the organization and development of the HGP.
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Peder␣ J. Anker Harvard University/University of Oslo
Holism and Ecological Racism:
The History of South African Human Ecology
This paper explores how the South African botanist, General, and politician
Jan Christian Smuts used ideas of environmental holism and of the evolution
of the mind to draw up a comprehensive political and scientific program for
ecological research in South Africa. Smuts was known throughout his life as a