Doctoral Dissertation Research: Genetic Studies of Sex Determination in the 20th Century

PI建议研究性别决定遗传学的历史，男性和女性生物体的发展。它将重点关注二十世纪的前六十年。在这一时期的大部分时间里，性别差异主要是根据激素而不是基因来理解的。该项目将侧重于遗传学，并试图回答以下问题。首先，为什么科学家对寻找性的遗传基础感兴趣，以及他们的性观念如何随着时间的推移而改变？在解释性别差异的出现时，遗传学家是如何与其他生物学家（尤其是内分泌学家）竞争的？研究人员又是如何试图调和对性别差异的不同解释的？第二，这些学科和认识论的断层线在更广泛的性和性行为的理解中是重要的吗？不同观点的存在是否动摇了关于性别差异的生物决定论解释？第三，关于基因性别决定的知识是如何在科学家和非科学家之间传播的，这些知识的社会和政治影响是什么？智力优势：追踪性别决定问题随时间的变化是一种讲述遗传学历史的新方法，它将为科学知识的产生并不总是依赖于理论提供新的见解。相反，科学家可以依靠一个共同的问题来组织各种各样的材料，生物体和技术，并允许问题本身随着这个阵列而发展。该项目将有助于更好地理解科学学科和权威的结构，因为它将研究遗传学家在获得越来越多的科学合法性的时候所做的演习，即使他们没有在他们的学科部分建立的问题上享有完全的霸权。最后，该项目将展示基因性别决定的研究和更广泛的性别差异和生物决定论的概念之间的动态关系：因此，这项研究必须整合生物学和性别和sexuality.Broader影响的历史：本论文将解决一个问题，这仍然是紧迫的和相关的现代社会：科学家和公众之间的知识流通。同样，它将提供对一个具有历史意义的科学资助计划如何运作的见解，以及科学和资助科学研究的机构如何组织自己以实现互利。此外，该项目将揭示目前对遗传性别差异的理解背后的历史，这是一个仍在激烈争论的话题。最后，该项目将探讨政治在科学中的地位，以及遗传知识的社会和伦理后果，特别是当这些知识应用于法律和医学领域时。该项目的资金由BIO和SBE董事会的合资企业提供，称为“生物学对社会的影响”，通过STS计划管理。

The PIs propose a study of the history of the genetics of sex determination, the development of male and female organisms. It will focus on the first sixty years of the twentieth century. For most of this period, sexual difference was understood principally in terms of hormones rather than genes. The project will focus instead on genetics and in doing so try to answer the following questions. First, why were scientists interested in seeking a genetic basis for sex and how have their concepts of sex changed over time? How did geneticists contend with other biologists, particularly endocrinologists, in explaining the emergence of sexual difference, and how did researchers try to reconcile the different explanations for sexual difference? Second, were such disciplinary and epistemological fault-lines consequential in broader understandings of sex and sexuality? Did the existence of divergent perspectives destabilize biological deterministic accounts of sexual difference? Third, how has knowledge about genetic sex determination circulated between scientists and non-scientists, and what were the social and political effects of such knowledge?Intellectual Merit: Tracing the problem of sex determination as it changed over time is a novel approach to telling the history of genetics that will provide new insights into how the production of scientific knowledge is not always dependent upon theory. Rather, scientists can rely upon a common problem to organize a diverse array of materials, organisms, and technologies and allow the problem itself to evolve with this array. The project will contribute to a greater understanding of the constructions of scientific disciplines and authority since it will examine the maneuvers made by geneticists during a time when they gained increasing scientific legitimacy, even though they did not enjoy complete hegemony over a problem on which their discipline had been partially founded. Finally, the project will demonstrate the dynamic relationship between studies of genetic sex determination and broader concepts of sexual difference and biological determinism: hence, this study necessarily integrates the histories of biology and of gender and sexuality.Broader Impact: This dissertation will address an issue which continues to be pressing and relevant to modern society: the circulation of knowledge between scientists and the public. Likewise, it will provide insights into how a historically significant science funding program operated, and how science and the institutions which fund scientific research might organize themselves for mutual advantage. Further, the project will reveal the history behind current understandings of genetic sexual difference, a topic that is still hotly debated. Finally, the project will explore the place of politics in science, and the social and ethical consequences of genetic knowledge, especially when that knowledge is applied to the realms of law and medicine.Funds for this project were provided by a joint venture of the BIO and SBE directorates known as "Impacts of Biology on Society," which is administered via the STS program.