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Book Cover
E-book
Author Chadarevian, Soraya de, author

Title Heredity under the microscope : chromosomes and the study of the human genome / Soraya de Chadarevian
Published Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2020
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (309 pages) : illustrations
Contents Introduction -- 1. Radiation and mutation -- 2. Chromosomes and the clinic -- 3. X and Y -- 4. Scaling up -- 5. Of chromosomes and DNA -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Note on sources -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record; online resource viewed August 4, 2021
Subject Chromosomes -- Research -- History -- 20th century
Chromosomes.
Human genome.
Chromosomes
Genetic Research -- history
Genome, Human
SCIENCE -- General.
Human genome
Chromosomes
Chromosomes -- Research
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 022668525X
9780226685250