Heredity under the microscope : chromosomes and the study of the human genome

By focusing on chromosomes, __Heredity under the Microscope__ offers a new history of postwar human genetics. Today chromosomes are understood as macromolecular assemblies and are analyzed with a variety of molecular techniques. Yet for much of the twentieth century, researchers studied chromosomes by looking through a microscope. Unlike any other technique, chromosome analysis offered a direct glimpse of the complete human genome, opening up seemingly endless possibilities for observation and intervention. Critics, however, countered that visual evidence was not enough and pointed to the need to understand the molecular mechanisms. Telling this history in full for the first time, Soraya de Chadarevian argues that the often bewildering variety of observations made under the microscope were central to the study of human genetics. Making space for microscope-based practices alongside molecular approaches, de Chadarevian analyzes the close connections between genetics and an array of scientific, medical, ethical, legal, and policy concerns in the atomic age. By exploring the visual evidence provided by chromosome research in the context of postwar biology and medicine, __Heredity under the Microscope__ sheds new light on the cultural history of the human genome. "By focusing on the chromosome in the quest to study and harness human heredity, Heredity under the Microscope offers a new history of postwar genetics. Today chromosomes are understood as macromolecular assemblies and analyzed with an array of molecular techniques. Yet throughout much of the twentieth century, researchers studied chromosomes by looking down the microscope at darkly stained bodies in the cell. In the 1950s, improved chromosome preparations offered a direct glimpse of the complete genome of an individual, opening up seemingly endless possibilities of observation and interventions. Much of the fascination with chromosomes and their persuasive power was based on the visual evidence the chromosome preparations provided, but critics countered that looking at pictures was not enough: we needed to understand the mechanisms. De Chadarevian argues that the often-bewildering variety of observations made by chromosome researchers were as central to the making of human heredity as the search for fundamental mechanisms pursued through the study of model organisms"-- Provided by publisher