Before the hydrogen bomb indelibly associated radioactivity with death, many chemists,
physicians, botanists, and geneticists believed that radium might hold the secret to life …

This paper describes the activities of amateur plant breeders and their application of various
methods and technologies derived from genetics research over the course of the twentieth …

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 …

Mutation breeding is an important tool for developing new cultivars in horticulture. Among
the many methods of mutation breeding, chemical mutation is highly effective and can be …

This is the first in-depth and analytical biography of an Asian woman scientist—Edavaleth
Kakkat Janaki Ammal (1897–1984). Using a wide range of archival sources, it presents a …

Through the career of Kihara Hitoshi, a prominent plant geneticist in Japan, I show that
genetics in Japan developed by maintaining a close connection with agriculture throughout …

A History of Zinnias brings forward the fascinating adventure of zinnias and the spirit of
civilization. With colorful illustrations, this book is a cultural and horticultural history …

A common account sees the human genome sequencing project of the 1990s as a “natural
outgrowth” of the deciphering of the double helical structure of DNA in the 1950s. The essay …

The influence of plant cytology on the construction of cytological practices with animal cells
is explored here. This short essay aims at a dialogue with Hans-Jörg Rheinberger's …