I slowly changed my position. I became convinced that stopping a scientific development
did not even necessarily prevent the feared misuse…. I also knew that stopping a
scientific line of research might prevent potential intellectual and practical benefits. So I
decided to concentrate on the ideological stances that fueled the misuses of scientific
developments, rather than on opposing new developments in genetics because of their
potential negative consequences. I would work on reaching the public and my scientific
colleagues with “exposés” of socially loaded claims masquerading as science. I hoped
that the awareness of scientists themselves and of an informed public would create
sufficient force to ensure more beneficial uses of science.
Jon Beckwith, in Making Genes, Making Waves
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mary Kate Maco
Publicity Director
617/495-4713
mary_kate_maco@harvard.edu
Still Making Waves
Few prominent scientists have been as outspoken, both about their science and the world
around them, as Jon Beckwith, now the American Cancer Society Professor of
Microbiology and Genetics at Harvard Medial School. His years as an undergrad and
then a grad student at Harvard, and years of postdoctoral work both here and abroad,
transformed him into both a full-fledged geneticist and a political activist, and culminated
in an event that unified his scientific, humanistic, and political leanings: In 1969, he and
his colleagues were the first to isolate a gene from the chromosome of a living organism.
Announcing this startling achievement at a press conference, Beckwith took the
opportunity—equally startling for the time—to issue a public warning about the dangers
of genetic engineering. And he hasn’t looked back since.
In Making Genes, Making Waves: A Social Activist in Science (Harvard University
Press; October 2002; $27.95), Beckwith describes his extraordinary life in science—a
career than spans most of the post-war history of genetics and molecular biology and
afforded the opportunity to work with the likes of Arthur Pardee, Sydney Brenner,
Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob—one that is characterized by a singular commitment
to raising the awareness of his fellow scientists and the public to the ethical and social
issues surrounding genetic research. From his notorious 1969 press conference to his
donation, in 1970, of the prize money from the Eli Lilly Award to the Black Panthers
(during his acceptance speech he condemned the practices of the drug industry—of which
of course the Eli Lilly Company was a representative); from his role as an early member
of the Science for the People and the “Sociobiology Study Group” and in controversies
over such issues as “the criminal chromosome” to his current involvement with the
Hastings Center in a study of the ethical consequences of genomics, Beckwith has always
tried to balance his scientific research with a strong sense of social responsibility.
Making Genes, Making Waves is not, however, simply a personal memoir. It delves
deeply into some of the major controversies in genetics over the last 30 years, presenting
the science in easily understood terms. Ranging from the travails of Robert Openheimer
and the atomic bomb and C. P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” to the Human Genome Project
and the recent “Science Wars,” Beckwith provides a sweeping view of science and its
social context in the latter half of the 20th century.
In the end, Beckwith challenges scientists to become more engaged in considering the
consequences of their work and to shed their arrogance towards those in the humanistic
and social sciences. While his book is full of enthusiasm and delight for science and its
approaches to problems, Beckwith’s message to the public is to be aware that science is a
human activity influenced by the social biases that affect all of us. At a time when issues
of genetics and society are at the fore, these challenges are particularly important.
About the Author:
Jon Beckwith is American Cancer Society Research Professor of Microbiology and
Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School.
Harvard University Press
Pages: ; ISBN: 0-6740928-2
Publication date: October 15, 2002
Price: $27.95
Please be sure to visit our web site at www.hup.harvard.edu to find more information about this and
other Harvard University Press titles.
Chapter 1
The Quail Farmer and the Scientist
Chapter 2
Becoming a Scientist
Chapter 3
Becoming an Activist
Chapter 4
On which side are the angels?
Chapter 5
The Tarantella of the Living
Chapter 6
Science and politics: does science take a back seat?
Chapter 7
Their own atomic history
Chapter 8
The Myth of the Criminal Chromosome
Chapter 9
It's the devil in your DNA
Chapter 10
"I'm not very scary anymore"
Chapter 11
Story-telling in science
Chapter 12
Geneticists and the Two Cultures
Chapter 13
The scientist and the quail farmer
Making Genes, Making Waves: A Social Activist in Science
Jon Beckwith, Published by Harvard University Press
A chance meeting on a train in France
leads to a reunion with a long-lost colleague (now
a quail farmer in Normandy) and stimulates
eminent geneticist Jon Beckwith to reflect on his
career as a scientist and political activist within
science. Beckwith recounts his often halting
steps to becoming a scientist as he is torn between
his excitement about genetics and his love of the
world of ideas beyond science. His years at
Harvard as both undergraduate and graduate
student, his postdoctoral work, including three
years in Europe, transform him into a political
activist as well as a full-fledged geneticist. These
experiences culminate in an event that unites his
scientific, humanistic and political leanings. In
1969, he and his colleagues are the first to isolate
a gene from the chromosome of a living
organism. Announcing this startling achievement
at a press conference, Beckwith takes the
opportunity to issue a public warning about the
dangers of genetic engineering. This event
initiates for him a long career of political activism
within science.
Beckwith describes the growth of the
radical science movement in the 1970’s and his
activism around issues of genetics and society.
He points out the potential dangers of the new
genetic technologies, but sees the ultimate
sources of many of these dangers in the social
preconceptions that influence scientists studying
the role of genes in human behavior. This stance
involves him in controversies over such issues as
“the criminal chromosome,” sociobiology, and
ethical issues surrounding the Human Genome
Project. Because of his activities, he is, at times,
demonized and his position as Professor at
Harvard Medical School is even threatened. He
does not hesitate to reveal the hazards to the
scientist who challenges scientific studies from
within. But, at the end, Beckwith describes his
satisfaction at being able to combine a successful
scientific career with a role as writer,
commentator and activist.
This book is not just a personal memoir.
It delves deeply into some of the major
controversies in genetics over the last 30 years,
presenting the science in easily understood terms.
It describes the dramatic changes in biology that
took place between the late 1950’s and the
present time and the personalities involved. It
deals with the differing styles of scientists and
how science is presented both within the
scientific community and to the public at large.
Ranging from the travails of Robert Oppenheimer
and the atomic bomb and C.P. Snow’s “Two
Cultures” to The Human Genome Project and the
recent “Science Wars,” Beckwith’s memoir
provides a sweeping view of science and its
social context in the latter half of the 20th century.
In addition, he describes the social and political
environment of 1950's Harvard, early 1960's
Berkeley, California, the expatriate scene in Paris
of the mid-1960's, the culture shock of his 1970
stay in Naples, Italy and the influence of the
social turmoil of the 1970's on his own lab.
Beckwith challenges scientists to become
more engaged in considering the consequences of
their work and to shed their arrogance towards
those in the humanistic and social sciences.
While his book is full of enthusiasm and delight
for science and its approaches to problems, its
message to the public is to be aware that science
is a human activity influenced by the social biases
that affect all of us. At a time when issues of
genetics and society are at the fore, these
challenges appear particularly important.
5
Blurbs on back cover of book:
“MAKING GENES, MAKING WAVES has special credibility coming from one of
America's most distinguished microbiologists. It is a must read for any young scientist
who is concerned by the tension between the beautiful rationality of science and the
sometimes disconcerting outcomes of its application”
DAVID BALTIMORE, President, California Institute of Technology, and winner
of the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
“THE RENOWNED SCIENTIST Jon Beckwith wrote Making Genes, Making Waves so
that students could learn an oft-hidden truth: it is possible to become a successful scientist
and still be a social activist within science.”
ANNE FAUSTO-STERLING, Professor of Biology and Women’s studies, Brown
University
“JON BECKWITH PRESENTS A CANDID and compelling story of his career-long
attempt to integrate two roles, that of the research scientist and that of the social activist.
With luck, his lucid narrative will inspire others to follow his example.”
PHILIP KITCHER, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
“BECKWITH’S MAKING GENES, MAKING WAVES shows that the commitment to
social responsibility is entirely compatible with commitment to science; that love of
science can coexist with serious qualms about its social consequences.”
DOROTHY NELKIN, Professor of Law and Sociology, New York University.
“IT IS RARE TO FIND AN HONEST man describing how he became a first-rate
scientist while his mixed feelings about the role and function of science turned him into
an effective social activist. Making Genes, Making Waves is an excellent account, by a
participant, of the debates about science and society that occurred in the last 30 or 40
years. It is especially interesting that the same man who was engaged in social activism
was producing the best of the science that generated so much passion.”
FRANÇOIS JACOB, Winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine