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<div align="center"><h1><font size=4><b>2008 Arthur Miller Lecture on
Science and Ethics - November 17, 2008 <br><br>
</u></font><font size=4 color="#0000FF">Climbing Up the Slippery
Slope: The History of Genetic Screening <br><br>
Ruth Schwartz Cowan <br><br>
</font>4:00 pm, MIT, Bartos Theater
(</b></h1>
<a href="http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?mapterms=E15&mapsearch=go">
E15-070</a><h1><b>, lower level) <br><br>
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<u>Abstract:<br>
</u>Is genetic screening a new form of eugenics? This history of
the technologies of screening does bioethics with historian's tools--and
answers that question with a resounding "no." <br><br>
<u>Bio:<br>
</u>Ruth Schwartz Cowan is the Janice and Julian Bers Professor of the
History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Cowan is an historian of science, technology and medicine. Her
areas of specialization include history of technology, history of
genetics, genetics and social policy, history of reproduction, history of
medical technology, gender and science, medicine, and technology. She was
a member of the History Department of the State University of New York at
Stony Brook from 1967 to 2002, attaining the rank of Professor in 1984
and Emerita Professor in 2002. Between 1997 and 2002, she was the Chair
of the Honors College at SUNY-Stony Brook; she also served as Director of
Women's Studies from 1985-1990. Professor Cowan received her Ph.D. from
The Johns Hopkins University, her M.A. from the University of California
at Berkeley, and her B.A. from Barnard College.<br><br>
Professor Cowan is the author of four books and numerous articles. Her
books are: <i>The Social History of American Technology</i> (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997); (with Neil M. Cowan) <i>Our Parents'
Lives: The Americanization of Eastern European Jews</i> (New York: Basic
Books, 1989) [revised second edition published as <i>Our Parent's Lives:
Everyday Life and Jewish Assimilation</i> (New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1996)]; <i>Sir Francis Galton and the Study of Heredity
in the Nineteenth Century</i> (New York: Garland Press, 1985); and
<i>More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the
Open Hearth to the Microwave</i> (New York: Basic Books, 1983). Her most
recent book
<a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COWHER.html"><i>Heredity and
Hope: the Case for Genetic Screening</a></i> was published by Harvard
University Press in May, 2008. <br><br>
Please join us on November 17th for Ruth Schwartz Cowan's Arthur Miller
Lecture on Science and Ethics. For more information, please contact
Debbie Meinbresse at meinbres@mit.edu or 617-452-2390. <br><br>
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Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-452-2390<br>
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