Dissertation Research: Geneticist L. C. Dunn and an Intellectual Community of Public Activists

论文研究：遗传学家 L.C. Dunn 和公共活动家知识界

• 批准号: 0525846
• 负责人: Mary Jo Nye
• 金额: $ 0.79万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0525846&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Geneticist; L.; C.

Geneticist L.C. Dunn and an Intellectual Community of Public ActivistsIntellectual Merits As a subject, geneticist L.C. Dunn (1893-1974) provides a unique portal for viewingtwentieth-century history of biology and its intersection with political, social,racial, and gender issues. Dunn represents the antithesis of a common conception of thescientist as a researcher isolated from others and disengaged from controversial matters.He was, instead, a member of an active community of intellectuals united by theirhumanitarianism. Dunn participated in the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, the Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, and the American-Soviet Science Society. He worked in the Zoology Department at Columbia University from 1928 to 1962, and was affiliated with the university until his death in 1974. Among his colleagues and collaborators at this institution were geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky and anthropologist Franz Boas. Other scientists who worked with Dunn inside and outside the laboratory were geneticists Milislav Demerec and H. J. Muller, as well as physicist E.U. Condon and zoologist Julian Huxley. Dunn not only contributed to genetics through studies on mutations, evolution, and race, but also to political and social issues by using his scientific knowledge to undermine discrimination that he found abhorrent, notably eugenics, racism, and sexism. Dunn supplemented his genetic knowledge by working closely with scholars trained in other disciplines in an effort to gain a broader understanding of human evolution, heredity, and race. Dunn was also very much involved with the Soviet Union. His respect for the scientific investigations performed by Soviet geneticists encouraged him to supply the country with scientific literature and equipment after the First and Second World Wars. In the 1940s, Dunn helped Soviet geneticists to combat Trofim Lysenko's rise by enlisting American geneticists to refute Lysenko's claims. Thus, a study of Dunn is also a disciplinary history of genetics in the United States and the Soviet Union. This aspect of Dunn's life also allows us to better understand the disillusionment felt by scientists when the Soviet Union closed itself off from international cooperation in 1947-1948. In particular, it provides a new dimension to the early years of the Cold War by assessing the reaction of those previously in regular correspondence with Soviet geneticists.Broader Impacts Topics that often are treated separately come together in the study of Dunn's activities. While Dunn's work focused on genetics, his interest in the topic was never far removed from research in anthropology, sociology, and the study of race. As a result a study of Dunn will incorporate and have important consequences for a wide range of the social and behavioral sciences. Nor was Dunn merely a scholar. On the contrary, he was a leading figure in a network of intellectuals who supported social and political causes. This project will be a narrative and analysis of a scientific life and community, but it will also go beyond the intellectual and social history of biology to illustrate that Dunn and many of his colleagues in the mid-twentieth century were politically engaged. The project will thus offer insights into science and social activism.

遗传学家L.C.邓恩和公共活动家的知识分子社区作为一个主题，遗传学家L.C.邓恩（1893年至1974年）提供了一个独特的门户网站观看二十世纪的生物学史及其与政治，社会，种族和性别问题的交叉点。邓恩代表了一种普遍观念的对立面，即科学家是一个与他人隔绝、不参与有争议的问题的研究者。相反，他是一个由人道主义团结起来的活跃的知识分子群体的成员。邓恩参加了援助流离失所的德国学者紧急委员会，民主和知识自由委员会以及美苏科学协会。 1928年至1962年，他在哥伦比亚大学动物学系工作，并一直隶属于这所大学，直到1974年去世。他在该机构的同事和合作者包括遗传学家狄奥多西·杜布赞斯基和人类学家弗朗茨·博厄斯。在实验室内外与邓恩一起工作的其他科学家是遗传学家Milislav Demerec和H。J. Muller和物理学家E.U.康登和动物学家朱利安·赫胥黎。邓恩不仅通过对突变、进化和种族的研究对遗传学做出了贡献，而且还通过利用他的科学知识来破坏他认为令人憎恶的歧视，特别是优生学、种族主义和性别歧视，对政治和社会问题做出了贡献。邓恩通过与其他学科的学者密切合作来补充他的遗传知识，以获得对人类进化，遗传和种族的更广泛的理解。邓恩也与苏联有着密切的关系。他对苏联遗传学家进行的科学研究的尊重鼓励他在第一次和第二次世界大战后向该国提供科学文献和设备。在1940年代，邓恩通过招募美国遗传学家来反驳李森科的主张，帮助苏联遗传学家对抗特罗芬·李森科的崛起。因此，对邓恩的研究也是美苏遗传学的学科史。邓恩生活的这一方面也让我们更好地理解了1947-1948年苏联关闭国际合作时科学家们所感受到的幻灭感。特别是，它提供了一个新的层面，以冷战的早期通过评估的反应，以前在定期通信与苏联遗传学家。更广泛的影响主题，往往是单独处理走到一起，在邓恩的活动的研究。 虽然邓恩的工作主要集中在遗传学上，但他对这一主题的兴趣从未远离人类学，社会学和种族研究。 因此，对邓恩的研究将纳入广泛的社会和行为科学，并产生重要影响。 邓恩也不仅仅是一个学者。 相反，他是一个支持社会和政治事业的知识分子网络的领导人物。这个项目将是一个科学生活和社区的叙述和分析，但它也将超越生物学的知识和社会历史，以说明邓恩和他的许多同事在世纪中期参与政治。 因此，该项目将提供对科学和社会行动主义的见解。