PAPER+1

Topics for Paper #1 **The Century of the Gene** **DUE Thursday, Feb. 23** **EMAIL YOUR PAPERS TO ME (FORTUM@RPI.EDU) __AND__** **BRING A HARD COPY TO CLASS** Write a 3-5 page paper (typed, double-spaced) on ONE of the following topics. Your paper will be evaluated on mechanics (spelling, grammar, overall structural soundness) as well as content. You do not have to have “the answer” to everything; a well-framed, detailed essay that explores possible answers to a question (or questions) can be just as strong as a forcefully argued position. In any case, your essay should be grounded in the readings, lectures, and discussions, using the course materials for quotes and more general substantiation and enrichment to your arguments and/or questions. A simple parenthetical reference – e.g., (Paul, 92) – will suffice for any readings from the syllabus that you cite; if you cite anything else (and you don’t need to), please give the full reference at the end as well.

1. Write a review – critical or favorable – of the film //Homo Sapiens 1900//. What is its overall message (or messages) about eugenics? What does it do better or worse than Diane Paul’s treatment of eugenics – or is it simply different?

2. "Scientific theories are socially plastic; they can be and frequently are turned to contradictory purposes. Thus we should not expect absolute correlations between scientific theories and social views." (Paul, p. 45) Using any two or more of the scientific figures we have looked at so far -- Darwin, Wallace, Galton, Morgan, Davenport – discuss how their views support Paul’s description of the “plasticity” of evolutionary theory or genetics. How did various other geneticists and/or eugenicists describe the relationship between the scientific and the social? Do you think eugenics was just applied human genetics? misapplied human genetics? a well-intentioned application of imperfect and incomplete genetic knowledge?

3. How has your understanding of Gregor Mendel and his work changed as a result of reading the different accounts by Simon Mawer, one fictional and one non-fictional? What new questions about Mendel do you now have?

4. Write a review of the Vermont Eugenics website, linked under “Additional Resources” ([]). How does it add to, differ from, or reinforce what you learned about eugenics in the U.S. overall from Diane Paul’s book?

5. Start a review of Mawer’s //Mendel’s Dwarf//. Who are the characters that Mawer has created, and why are they interesting? Can you pick out some of the themes or ideas that you think will be interesting to see developed in the remainder of the book? What are some of the techniques used by Mawer in his novel, and what are their effects? What kind of picture do you get of genetics and geneticists? Of dwarves?