Seeing germs, selling germs

Translating Anglo-American bacteriology

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11936654
AutoresJacob Steere-Williams (College of Charleston), Jacob Steere‐william (0000-0001-5109-5546, College of Charleston, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen48
Número2
Páginas181-201
Fecha de publicación2023-01-23
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInterdisciplinary Science Reviews (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0308-0188 • E-ISSN: 1743-2790
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03080188.2022.2156149
OpenAlexW4317820157
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas36

The germ theory of infectious disease, which developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is often considered a pivotal breakthrough in modern science, medicine, biology, and public health. The germ theory provided a new way to study disease in laboratory, clinical, and community settings, and a new rationale for public health intervention. This article explores two important facets of the germ theory; how the physical techniques and methods of studying germs in laboratories were taught to the first generation of doctors, and how the germ theory was communicated to diverse publics in clinical and community settings. Drawing on the concept of transnational science, I argue that late nineteenth and early twentieth debates around the laboratory practices of bacteriology and the public reception of the germ theory help us to understand the deeper ways that biomedical scientific knowledge is created, constrained, and communicated

Bacteriology · Biology · Disease · Engineering ethics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Germ theory of disease · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Intervention (counseling · Media studies · Pathology · Public health · Social science · Sociology · Engineering · Historical Medical Research and Treatments · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Medicine · Philosophy