The history of molecular biology is a long history of scientists searching for an answer, of what life could be. What is life? What does it mean? What is it's value? Can it be engineered? Since those questions have always been - and always will be - almost impossible to answer, historian of science Lily E. Kay changes the question to 'Who wrote the book of life?'. Her answer seems simple: Scientists did. What insights can historical analysis of the biological sciences bring us? And how can we tell stories heir stories?
This seminar follows scientists, from Louis Pasteur, Rosalind Franklin, to John Salk, and we will read stories about their laboratories, the places of their work, where they spend their days and share ideas.
In the more practical part of the seminar, students are encouraged to analyze a laboratory of their own choosing, which can be historical or contemporary. Students will learn to plan and conduct their own case study and experiment with the artful craft of "storytelling" in writing.
The third part of the semester will focus on more recent laboratories, that question and reformulate what life even means.
- Dozent/in: Laura Hille