Mendel's Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics [Hardcover]

Elof Axel Carlson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0879696753 | ISBN-13: 978-0879696757 | Publication Date: March 1, 2004 | Edition: 1

This latest book by Elof Carlson (The Unfit) is a first history of classical genetics, the era in which the chromosome theory of heredity was proposed and developed. Highly illustrated and based heavily on early 20th century original sources, the book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology that began in Europe but were synthesized in the United States through new Ph.D. programs and expanded academic funding. Carlson argues that, influenced largely by new technologies and instrumentation, the life sciences progressed though incremental change rather than paradigm shifts, and he describes how molecular biology emerged from the key ideas and model systems of classical genetics. Readable and original, this narrative will interest historians and science educators as well as today's practitioners of genetics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Several outstanding features of this book will make it useful for specialists and non-specialists alike. One is the attempt to show how classical genetics was involved with political issues in the twentieth century, using three examples: eugenics (1883-1945), the Lysenko controversy in the Soviet Union (1930-1960), and the controversy over the genetic effects of radiation (1946-1970). Another noteworthy feature is the use of chronological tables for the whole field (at the beginning of the book), as well as for specific sub-topics, such as contributions to the chromosome theory of sex determination, or geneticists' educational background. A third valuable feature is the author's liberal use of high-quality illustrations, including photographs of many geneticists seldom pictured before, original figures from published papers, and the title pages of important papers and books. The publishers, Cold Spring Harbor Press, have produced an attractive and useful book. Nature This book is a must for biology teachers in both high school and college who enjoy reading the historical background that goes into major accomplishments, and want to convey a fascinating story to their students. Besides the historical account, the author explains at the end of the book the significance of classical genetics as a case study on the history of science. He asserts that classical genetics does not constitute a 'paradigm shift' but is an elegant experimental science that has evolved through new technologies. Moreover, Carlson humbly states that the history of classical genetics 'is not an anomaly in the history of science [but] accurately depicts how science is done.' I certainly agree. The American Biology Teacher Mendel's Legacy has many virtues. Given its span and the amount of material covered, it is very light and readable. Every chapter is organized in small sections with well-identified headings that make them self-contained units. An interesting feature of the book is the illustrations. They are abundant and interesting, beautifully woven with the text and an excellent complement to the literary account. I would say that together they are the best-published gathering of pictures of the history of genetics. Carlson has written a classic that will serve as reference and resource to historians and geneticists. BioEssays

Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pr; 1 edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879696753
• ISBN-13: 978-0879696757
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Admirable Way to do History of Science, April 8, 2005

By 

Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mendel's Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics (Hardcover)

This book is a labor of love by a professional geneticist with a sharp intellect and a mature understanding of society as well as science. The book is beautifully produced, with many diagrams and portraits of the scientists, as well as photographed excerpts from famous papers (although there are no color plates).

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of Carlson's approach is the care with which he presents the evidence for specific genetic principles, and the arguments used by opponents of what are now elementary textbook principles. Appreciating basic genetic principles is much enhanced by realizing the intellectual struggle involved in each piece of the puzzle. For instance, I have read a dozen times that quantitative geneticists rejected Mendelism because they believed in evolution by continuous, incremental change, whereas Mendel's laws appear to support discontinuous, saltationist, change. I always thought this to be a quite silly objection, and that R. A. Fisher's demonstration of the compatibility of the two views was stating the obvious. Carlson suggests a far deeper objection. Following Galton, quantitative geneticists believed in regression to the mean and blending inheritance, both seeming incompatible with Mendelism. Overcoming these objections is quite a sophisticated task.

In another passage, Carlson presents Sewall Wright's reasons for developing his position on gene interaction and environmental effects on natural selection, based on his study of coat color in guinea pigs. Again, he shows that opposition to Mendelian segregation was not just conservative stubbornness, but rather a reaction to the fact that a considerable fraction of inheritance studies did not conform to Mendelian segregation. We now know why, with our understanding of transpositions, gene jumping, and the like.

The glory of this book is simply reading the detailed history of marvelous discoveries in an almost blow-by-blow fashion. But, almost as welcome is Carlson's historical method, which he presents briefly at the end of the book. Science, he says, is the "winning of the facts." I interpret this to mean that truth needs no explanation---it is its own justification. "I have read accounts" Carlson says (p. 208) "...that attempted to explain science in sociological (in-groups versus outsiders), political (Marxism versus capitalism), or historical (depression, war, and ideology) contexts, and I found these either false or extraneous." This viewpoint is such a breath of fresh air after plowing through so many insufferable post-modern treatments of science.

Carlson does have strong and interesting arguments concerning the time and place of scientific discoveries. He notes that genetics was a European stronghold in the Nineteenth century and became an American-led endeavor in the classical period from 1900 to 1930. He attributes this to the scientific freedom offered by the American graduate school, among other things. Hitler and Stalin account for the continued prominence of the American school after 1930, since they induced extremely talented scientists to emigrate to the United States, where they had the freedom to do their research. It is not unreasonable to think that if freedom triumphs in the world, it will be in no small part because good science requires it.