Quickening nature's pulse : atomic agriculture at the International Atomic Energy Agency
Hamblin, Jacob Darwin (Oregon State University. School of History, Philosophy, and Religion)
Date: |
2015 |
Abstract: |
Mutation breeders in the 1960s seemed poised to use atomic energy to speed up mutation rates in plants in order to develop new crop varieties, for the benefit of all people. Although skepticism had slowed this work in the United States, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nurtured the scientific field, its community of experts, and an imagined version of the future that put humans in control of their destiny. The IAEA acted as a center of dissemination and support for experts and ideas even when they had fallen from favor elsewhere. Through the lens of the IAEA, plant breeding bore the appearance of a socially progressive, ultra-modern science destined to alleviate population pressures. Administrators at the IAEA also were desperate for success stories, hoping to highlight mutation plant breeding as a potential solution to the world's ills. The community of mutation plant breeders gained a lifeline from the consistent clarion call from the Vienna-based agency to use atomic energy to understand the natural world and quicken its pulse with radioisotopes. |
Rights: |
Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades. ![Creative Commons](/img/licenses/by-nc-nd.ico) |
Language: |
Anglès |
Document: |
Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
Subject: |
International Atomic Energy Agency ;
Food and Agriculture Organization ;
Mutation plant breeding ;
Atoms for peace ;
Radiation botany |
Published in: |
Dynamis : Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque. Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 35 Núm. 2 (2015) , p. 389-408 (Dossier) , ISSN 2340-7948 |
Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/Dynamis/article/view/298425
DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362015000200006
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Record created 2015-09-24, last modified 2024-05-20