Researcher

My Expertise

Biotechnology - social implications and history/pharmaceuticals - history/history of biology; DNA

Fields of Research (FoR)

Historical Studies, History and Philosophy of Medicine

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Biography

Nicolas Rasmussen is a Professor in the School of Humanities. He has higher degrees in history and philosophy of science, developmental biology, and public health. 

His research has dealt with the role of instrumentation in shaping scientific knowledge, the history of biotechnology, molecular biology and its cultural and intellectual history, the history of drug abuse and pharmaceuticals in the United States since 1900, and the influence of...view more

Location

314 Morven Brown

Contact

9385 2361

Research Activities

In the 1980s many scientists joined commercial genetic engineering ventures. This biotechnology 'gold rush' brought major change to university science, first in the US but soon globally.  Controversy continues about whether society has gained from new products, or lost from reduced basic research, but such discussions of the 'privatisation' of life science rest largely on journalistic or anecdotal evidence. The proposed study will be the first systematic history of the linkages forged between academic biologists, universities, and corporations in the development of early recombinant…

In 1951 the US Public Health Service declared obesity, newly reinterpreted as an addictive disorder, to be the nation’s leading health problem. This project will be the first to study the course of this early obesity crisis, analysing the interaction between popular perception, biomedical science and health policy, all in the political and cultural context of postwar America. Research will especially focus on the competing efforts of several biomedical disciplines and their scientific leaders to define the problem and shape responses to it. The goal is to understand the ways science and…