University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Emerita, History

Professor emerita

College of Arts and Sciences

About

Trained in experimental psychology (psychobiology), for several years I have been pursuing historical studies of the relationship between the life sciences and society in the early twentieth century.  My current project focuses on the history of the inheritance of acquired characteristics in Central Europe during the interwar period. Several Austrian scientists attempted to modernize the concept by linking it to the new science of endocrinology. Their efforts challenged cultural and political norms related to both race and sexuality, and social, political and scientific forces led to their failure. My book, tentatively titled "Spectacular Failure
Hormones, Heredity, and Race: Vienna 1902-1934," will be published in 2012 by the Rutgers University Press.


The concept has  been revived by epigenetic perspectives within biology and psychology.  Understanding the social and scientific forces that overcame the concept in the 1920s can help us appreciate the fortunes of contemporary debates about the nature-nurture problem.

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