Review ID: CBB535735449

Review of "Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science" (2016)

unapi

Garland E. Allen’s 1978 biography of the Nobel Prize winning biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan provides an excellent study of the man and his science. Allen presents Morgan as an opportunistic scientist who follows where his observations take him, leading him to his foundational work in Drosophila genetics. The book was rightfully hailed as an important achievement and it introduced generations of readers to Morgan. Yet, in hindsight, Allen’s book largely misses an equally important part of Morgan’s work – his study of development and regeneration. It is worth returning to this part of Morgan, exploring what Morgan contributed and also why he has been seen by contemporaries and historians such as Allen as having set aside some of the most important developmental problems. A closer look shows how Morgan’s view of cells and development that was different from that of his most noted contemporaries led to interpretation of his important contributions in favor of genetics. This essay is part of a special issue, revisiting Garland Allen's views on the history of life sciences in the twentieth century.

...More
Review Of

Book Allen, Garland E. (1978) Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science. unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB535735449/

Similar Citations

Book Allen, Garland E.; (1978)
Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science

Article Garland E. Allen; (2015)
How Many Times Can You Be Wrong and Still Be Right? T. H. Morgan, Evolution, Chromosomes and the Origins of Modern Genetics

Article Pereira Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyr; (2012)
Um representante do estilo de pensamento científico “compreensivo,” William Bateson (1861--1926): ciência, política e arte

Article David Ceccarelli; (2021)
“The bad habit of wandering”: Morgan, Osborn and the issue of evolutionary causality in genetics and paleontology

Book Muzrukova, E. B.; (2002)
T. Kh. Morgan i genetika. Nauchnaia programma shkoly T. Kh. Morgana v kontekste razvitiia biologii XX stoletiia

Article Vorms, Marion; (2014)
The Birth of Classical Genetics as the Junction of Two Disciplines: Conceptual Change as Representational Change

Article Kingsland, Sharon E.; (2007)
Maintaining Continuity through a Scientific Revolution: A Rereading of E. B. Wilson and T. H. Morgan on Sex Determination and Mendelism

Article deJong-Lambert, William; Krementsov, Nikolai; (2012)
On Labels and Issues: The Lysenko Controversy and the Cold War

Article Giulia Frezza; Mauro Capocci; (2018)
Thomas Hunt Morgan and the Invisible Gene: The Right Tool for the Job

Article Rushton, Alan R.; (2014)
William Bateson and the Chromosome Theory of Heredity: A Reappraisal

Article Schneider, Laurence; (2012)
Michurinist Biology in the People's Republic of China, 1948--1956

Article Brush, Stephen G.; (2002)
How Theories Became Knowledge: Morgan's Chromosome Theory of Heredity in America and Britain

Article Falk, Raphael; (2003)
Linkage: From Particulate to Interactive Genetics

Article Michael R. Dietrich; (2016)
Introduction: Revisiting Garland Allen’s Views on the History of the Life Sciences in the Twentieth Century

Article Paul Lawrence Farber; (2016)
Dobzhansky and Montagu’s Debate on Race: The Aftermath

Article Davidson, Eric H.; (2012)
Roy J. Britten (1919--2012)

Book Ridley, Matt; (2006)
Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code

Book Comfort, Nathaniel C.; (2001)
Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock's Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control

Book Glynn, Jenifer; (2012)
My Sister Rosalind Franklin

Article Hagemann, Rudolf; (2006)
Curt Stern (1902--1981): Drosophila-Genetiker und Human-Genetiker in Deutschland und den USA

Authors & Contributors
Allen, Garland E.
Brush, Stephen G.
Capocci, Mauro
Comfort, Nathaniel C.
Davidson, Eric
de Jong-Lambert, William
Journals
Journal of the History of Biology
Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology
British Journal for the History of Science
Filosofia e História da Biologia
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Publishers
Atlas Books
Graal'
Harvard University Press
Oxford University Press
Princeton University Press
Concepts
Genetics
Biographies
Biology
Chromosomes
Heredity
Mendelism; Mendelian inheritance
People
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Bateson, William
Allen, Garland E.
Michurin, Ivan Vladimirovich
Baur, Erwin
Britten, Roy J.
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
20th century, late
21st century
Places
United States
Great Britain
Germany
Soviet Union
China
Europe
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment