Daniel J. Kevles je americký historik vedy, ktorý sa špecializuje na históriu americkej vedy a jej prepojenie s etikou a spoločnosťou. Jeho práca sa vyznačuje schopnosťou prehľadne zhrnúť rozsiahle historické informácie do pútavých a zrozumiteľných rozprávaní. Skúma najmä témy ako je vplyv vedeckých objavov na spoločnosť, environmentálne hnutia a etické otázky vo vede, ako napríklad eugenika či vedecká poctivosť. Jeho eseje a knihy sú cenené pre dôsledné bádanie a detailné spracovanie.
Nominated for an American Book Award in Non-Fiction, this text traces the study and practice of eugenics - the science of improving the human species by exploiting theories of heredity - from its inception in the late 19th century through to the latest developments in genetic engineering.
In the 19th century, when the idea of eugenics (selective breeding to generate superior members of a species) was invited off the farm and into the parlor, it was a far-fetched notion with little possibility of success driven by clearly racist motivations. But at the end of the 20th century, biotechnological techniques and other agendas are making forms of human eugenics plausible. Rich in anecdote, narrative, and fact. An important book.
In these essays, Jonathan Miller, Oliver Sacks and Daniel Kevles show how and why some discoveries and insights in science emerge with great promise, only to be discarded or forgotten, then re-emerge years later as important. Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould suggest deep and largely unacknowledged distortions in the way scientists and popularizers alike conceive the sturcture of the world and its natural history. Illustrations.