Posts tagged nazi
Eugenics Archive Extremes
Oct 8th
The Nobel announcements always get people buzzing here at CSHL. This week was particularly exciting because Carol Greider, one of the Physiology or Medicine winners, graced the Lab campus for some years. As another example of science leaked into the mainstream, I learned about a NOVA dramatization on Charles Darwin, as well as a theatrical movie that initially didn’t make it to the US due to its controversial inclusion of the creationism debate.
As someone who only has one foot in this science world, I’ve wondered how those outside it look on at the celebrations and science story telling. Do they More >
Twin Studies
Sep 24th
Eugenicists studied twins to explore genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. Twins, some raised separate from one another, were tested intellectually and measured physically. Eugenicists were looking to prove that heredity determines everything about an individual. They examined fingerprints, hair and eye color, temperament, memory, measured every body part, and even asked subjects how they liked their eggs and steak prepared.
The Archive includes several images from twin studies performed by Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer at the Institute of Hereditary Biology and Race Biology at the University of Frankfurt. These studies were horrifically taken to an extreme by the Nazis in More >
