Description
Book SynopsisGood or bad? New or old? The rich connotations of the word ''biotechnology'' reflect a history that stretches back more than seventy years. To some, the concept describes the evolving crafts of industrial production using micro-organisms. To others, biotechnology is a product of the recombinant techniques only recently developed by molecular biologists. It has been seen simply as a means of wealth production and as a new kind of technology--sometimes as distinctively benevolent and at all other times as particularly dangerous.
Robert Bud shows how the hopes and fears for the combination of biology with engineering have been an integral part of the history of the twentieth century, including the Great Depression of the 1930s, the two world wars, and the more recent anxieties over genetic and entrepreneurial industry. Skillfully, the author relates biotechnology''s origins in the chemistry and microbiology of the nineteenth century. Personalities with influential roles in its subseque
Trade Review
'… delightful, informative, readable …' Jack Pasternak, ASM News
'… the best introduction to the comparative and cultural history of biotechnology …' Glenn E. Burgos, Science
'… well produced, satisfying and enjoyable to read.' Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Table of Contents
List of illustrations; Foreword M. F. Cantley (Head of Concentration Unit for Biotechnology in Europe (CUBE) Directorate General for Science, Research and Development Commission of the European Communities); Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The origins of zymotechnology; 2. From zymotechnology to biotechnology; 3. The engineering of nature; 4. Institutional reality; 5. The chemical engineering front; 6. Biotechnology - the green technology; 7. From professional to policy category; 8. The wedding with genetics; 9. The 1980s: between life and commerce; Epilogue; Notes; Sources; Index.
