Perspectives on Science

In this episode of Perspectives we speak with Christopher Willoughby, author of Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools. Masters of Health examines how the founders of U.S. medical schools promoted an understanding of race influenced by the theory of polygenesis—that each race was created separately and as different species—which they supported by training students to collect and measure human skulls from around the world. Medical students came to see themselves as masters of Black people's bodies through stealing Black people's corpses, experimenting on enslaved people, and practicing distinctive therapeutics on Black patients. In documenting these practices Masters of Health charts the rise of racist theories in U.S. medical schools, throwing new light on the extensive legacies of slavery in modern medicine. For more resources on this topic, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/173 Recorded on October 30, 2023.

In episode 11 of The DNA Papers we revisit a paper describing a famous experiment performed by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase which combined the atomic-age tools of radioisotopes with an ordinary kitchen blender to show that DNA alone, and not protein, was the carrier of hereditary information: Hershey, Alfred D., and Martha Chase. “Independent Functions of Viral Protein and Nucleic Acid in Growth of Bacteriophage.” The Journal of General Physiology 36, no. 1 (1952): 39–56. By using radioisotopes to separately label the DNA and protein components of a bacterial virus and demonstrating DNA’s central role in the earliest stages of viral replication inside a bacterial cell, Hershey and Chase’s 1952 paper provided powerful evidence about the chemical nature of the gene, and gained a well-deserved place among the classics in the history of DNA science. Here to share their ideas and opinions about the history and significance of this paper are: Angela Creager, Princeton University Geoffrey Montgomery, Independent Science Writer William Summers, Yale University See also a collection of resources on this topic at https://www.chstm.org/video/144. Recorded on Oct 24, 2023.

Following in the wake of the Isis CB special issue on pandemics, this episode of the companion podcast takes a deeper look at the social and political contexts of pandemics, and also considers the impact of doing such a history during times of disease crises. Contributors Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Keith Wailoo and Emily Hamilton share their insights and and experiences of taking stock of literature and also of the impact that COVID-19 had on their own scholarship and teaching. For more information and additional resources, go to https://www.chstm.org/video/149 Recorded October 19, 2023.

The tenth episode of the DNA papers podcast brings to light some of the lesser discussed papers in the history of DNA that were instrumental in confirming its role in effecting genetic transformation. Both papers discussed in this episode were first presented at the 1951 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology; the first by a geneticist, and the second by a chemist, who were responsible for maintaining the continuity of work on bacterial transformation in Avery’s laboratory. These two papers provided important corroboration for the 1946 implication that the nucleic acid—DNA—of pneumococcus might be able to transform a variety of other bacterial traits besides their capsules and virulence. Ephrussi-Taylor, Harriett. “Genetic Aspects of Transformations of Pneumococci.” In Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 16:445–56. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1951. Hotchkiss, Rollin D. “Transfer of Penicillin Resistance in Pneumococci by the Desoxyribonucleate Derived from Resistant Cultures.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 16 (January 1, 1951): 457–61. https://doi.org/10.1101/SQB.1951.016.01.032. Here to share their insights on these papers are: Eleonora Cresto, National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Buenos Aires Geoffrey Montgomery, Independent Science Writer Michel Morange, IHPST, Université Paris I, Jan Witkowski, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Recorded on Sept 19, 2023. See also a collection of resources on this topic at https://www.chstm.org/video/144.

In this episode of Perspectives, we speak with Christopher Heaney, author of Empires of the Dead: Inca Mummies and the Peruvian Ancestors of American Anthropology. Bringing together the history of science, race, and museums' possession of Indigenous remains, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, Empires of the Dead illuminates how South American ancestors became coveted mummies, skulls, and specimens of knowledge and nationhood. In doing so it reveals how Peruvian and Andean peoples have learned from their dead, seeking the recovery of looted heritage in the centuries before North American museums began their own work of decolonization. Recorded on October 13, 2023. For more resources on this topic, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/171

DNA Papers #2: Albrecht Kossel by Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Laura Stark is a historical sociologist and Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University. Her second book project, The Normals: A People’s History, explores how a global market for healthy civilian “human subjects” emerged in law, science, and everyday imagination over the past century. The Normals shows how logics of racialized citizenship were built into American clinical science in the post-World War II period—and how scientists and their human subjects worked for change. The George Sarton Memorial Lecture in the History and Philosophy of Science, named after a founding member of the History of Science Society (HSS), was first awarded in 1960. The lecture is given annually at the AAAS Annual Meeting by a distinguished practitioner in the history of science. Recorded March 4, 2023 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For more information on this topic, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/170

The current and incoming editors of the journal Isis reflect on their expectations, experiences, and hopes for the journal and for the field of the history of science. Sigrid Schmalzer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Elise Burton, University Toronto Projit Mukharji, Ashoka University Matt Lavine, Mississippi State University Alexandra Hui, Mississippi State University Recorded July 31, 2023 For more episodes in this series, other podcasts, and additional resources, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/157

Episode 9 of the DNA Papers discusses a set of papers by the first scientist who made a sustained effort into uncovering the secret behind specificity of nucleic acids. The principle author, Erwin Chargaff, a European-American biochemist from Columbia University in New York, determined that the relative rations of the four nucleotide bases—A, T, G and C—were not present in all DNA in equal amounts as widely assumed, but rather, that they varied in proportion from one to another, with the amount of the A and G bases being equal to the T and C bases respectively. Furthermore, he also demonstrated that the ratio of these amounts was specific and consistent for a given species. He first laid out his vision for determining the role of nucleic acids in 1947, and over the next decade or so, proceeded to probe the finer details of DNA chemistry with the then state-of-the art innovations in techniques such as chromatography and UV spectroscopy. Papers discussed include: Chargaff, Erwin. “On the Nucleoproteins and Nucleic Acids of Microorganisms.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 12 (January 1, 1947): 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1101/SQB.1947.012.01.006. Vischer, Ernst, and Erwin Chargaff. “The Separation and Quantitative Estimation of Purines and Pyrimidines in Minute Amounts.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 176 (1948): 703–14. Chargaff, Erwin. “Chemical Specificity of Nucleic Acids and Mechanism of Their Enzymatic Degradation.” Experientia 6, no. 6 (June 15, 1950): 201–9. Joining us to illuminate the role of Chargaff and his experiments in the history of DNA are: Pnina Abir-Am, Brandeis University Kersten Hall, University of Leeds Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science View more at https://www.chstm.org/video/144 Recorded August 9, 2023.

Join us for a discussion of history of science from the perspectives of Latin American, African, and Ottoman history — and global history more broadly. How have these perspectives been represented in the past? What has changed more recently? What are the pressing questions and challenges for the future of the field from a global perspective? Sharing their experiences and points of view on these issues: Harun Küçük, University of Pennsylvania Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Harvard University Helen Tilley, Northwestern University Recorded on June 5, 2023. For information, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/157.