Research

Research Priorities: History of biology, history of Russian and Soviet science, history of genetics, comparative perspectives on eugenics

Mark B. Adams is a US-American historian of science. His central teaching and research interests focus on the history of biology, the institutional history of science, science and politics, the history of Russian science and technology, and modern science fiction from the late 19th century up to the present.

Regarding the history of biology, Mark Adams does research into genetics, population genetics, Darwinism and evolutionary theory, morphology, experimental biology and the naturalist Charles Darwin. Here, his focus lies on the history of Russian science and technology, most notably on the intellectual biography of Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900 to 1975), one of the 20th century’s most important biologists and social thinkers and founder of modern population genetics. During the 1930s Dobzhansky overcame the, at the time, standard distinction of micro-evolution that happens in a given species and macro-evolution that happens above species-level, and thus, to more than one species. By elucidating the role of genetics in evolution, he became one of the founders of the modern concept of synthesis. Mark B. Adams painted him as a thinker that helped to make evolutionary theory provable via population genetics.

Mark B. Adam’s research into the history of eugenics includes the nature-nurture debate, scientific futurism, and the links between science and religion, and science and literature. Focusing on Russia, he showed how the eugenics movement was embedded in the scientific, political, and cultural contexts of their times and worked together with experts of various countries towards a comparative history of the topic. Thus, he retold the history of eugenics as a complex web of scientific and political interests, in which biological concepts were appropriated for political goals and where international concepts fell on specific conditions in the various countries.

Mark B. Adams also acquired an exceptional reputation as a teacher in another field. At the University of Pennsylvania, he introduced the course “The Emergence of Modern Science Fiction” in 1970, which he continued to teach in subsequent years. It was one of the first courses on science fiction in the USA. At the time, there was almost no academic literature on the topic and it received little attention. The genre continued to develop over the years and the course incorporated new texts, authors, topics and perspectives. Adams established and developed a library specially dedicated to investigating the genre and its history. The collection eventually amounted to over 5,000 titles, which he donated to the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

• since 2014 Emeritus Professor, Department History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania (PENN), Philadelphia, USA
• 1978-2014 Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1973-1978 Julian S. and Janice C. Bers Assistant Professor of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1970-1973 Lecturer, Department History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1973 Ph.D. in History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• 1969 A.M. in History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• 1966 A.B. in History and Science, Harvard College, Cambridge, USA

Functions

• 2011-2013 Graduate Chair, Department of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1994-2006 Graduate Chair, Department of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1993-2000 Editorial Board, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
• 1985-1986 General Honours Committee, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1984-1987 Editorial Board, ISIS
• 1982-1984 Acting Graduate Chair, Department of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1982-1983 Director, Darwin Centennial Celebration, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1979-1980 Member, University Council, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1972-1995 Editorial Board, Mendel Newsletter
• 1972-1978 Undergraduate Chair, Department of History and Sociology of Science, PENN, Philadelphia, USA

Projects

• 2001 Senior Scholars Grant FB-36067-00 “Nature & Nurture in the USSR” National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), USA
• 1999-2000 Research Grant “Biological Futurism in Science and Literature”, Penn Humanities Forum, PENN, Philadelphia, USA
• 1999-2000 Grant SES-99-06180 “The Soviet Experiment: Eugenics and Medical Genetics in Russia”, National Science Foundation (NSF), USA
• 1993-1995 Grant RI-20646-93 for archival work in St. Petersburg and Moscow, NEH, USA
• 1992-1995 Grant SBE-9223903 “Th. Dobzhansky and Soviet Biology”, NSF, USA
• 1988 Grant “The Dobzhansky-Filipchenko Correspondence”, University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, Philadelphia, USA
• 1984-1987 Grant RH-20668-85 “Soviet Darwinism”, NEH, USA
• 1984-1986 Grant SES-84-10176 “Chetverikov & Soviet Population Genetics”, NSF, USA
• 1976-1980 Grant SOC76-11577-AO2, NSF, USA

Honours and Memberships

• since 2001 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 1984 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, Lindback Foundation, Philadelphia, USA
• 1977 Exchange Scientist to USSR, National Academy of Sciences, USA
• 1976 Mellon Fellow, Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies, Washington D.C., USA
• 1976 Senior Scholar, U.S.-USSR Commissions, American Council of Learned Societies, USA
• 1973-1978 Julian S. and Janice C. Bers Chair, PENN, Philadelphia, USA