The Genetic Revolutions

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, History of Science, Nature of Science, Science & Society, Biological Evolution

Ed Hessler

From the Darwin College Lectures, Dr. Matthew Cobb speaks on "The Genetic Revolutions." 

 

He discusses five of them: 1) that characteristics could be inherited (18th century); 2) Mendel's experiments on hybrid pea plants (1850s); 3)  rediscovery of Mendel's work (1903); 4); discovery of DNA's structure (1953); 5) advent of genetic engineering (1972). An interesting characteristic all share is none were immediately transformational.

In the printed material below the lecture, he calls attention to what are later called "scientific revolutions." 

 

"Through the history of our attempts to understand heredity we can perceive something of the history of science and how scientific revolutions are rarely immediately perceptible at the time. The wheel of scientific history turns, but much less rapidly and dramatically than appears in retrospect."

Following his opening comments he mentions two things you need to know. The first is that he will take a break (2 m) which is a long practice of his; the second is this "You are not allowed to think that people in the past were not stupid. The challenge is to understand why they thought what they thought." He spends a small amount of time on each.

Dr. Cobb's resume is briefly summarized on the opening page. For more see the Wiki entry.

Here is the lecture (58 m 42 s). He knows the material, is clear and in addition the talk is easily broken into segments if that is your preference for viewing.

I think it's terrific.