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Mutant utopias: evening primroses and imagined futures in early-twentieth-century America

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 15:03 authored by Jim EndersbyJim Endersby
Hugo de Vries’ mutation theory is now little more than a footnote to the history of biology; a failed theory that briefly led a few biologists astray. However, for the first quarter of the twentieth century it attracted considerable attention from both professional biologists and laypeople. De Vries’ theory – together with the plant, Oenothera Lamarckiana, that had supplied most of his evidence – became the focus of a surprising variety of imaginative hopes. Scientists and their various publics became fascinated by the utopian possibilities that the primrose seemed to offer and their discussions shaped a public culture around biology that would define the twentieth century as the “Century of the Gene”. From a conventional history of science perspective (which, in the case of twentieth-century biology often remains focused on the content of scientific theories and the professional communities that shaped them) the mutation theory seems unimportant. However, while de Vries’ new theory of evolution ultimately failed to persuade the scientific community, it was much more important than is now realised, particularly because it helped make biology part of a wide variety of public debates. Understanding the mutation theory’s story more fully suggests that we may need to rethink much of the rest of the century of the gene’s history, to think less in terms of what happened in the lab and more about how biology came to function as public culture.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Isis

ISSN

00211753

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Issue

3

Volume

104

Page range

471-503

Department affiliated with

  • History Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2013-05-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2022-12-06

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