主 题：被诺贝尔奖覆蔽的控制系统 ——芭芭拉·麦克林托克在1961年与两位细菌遗传学家的对话
主讲人：吴沁彦（宾夕法尼亚大学科学史与科学社会学系）
时 间：2024年6月5日（周三）下午13:30-15:00
地 点：蒙民伟人文楼B206（科学史系系厅）
内容摘要：
芭芭拉·麦克林托克（1902—1992）是美国遗传学家， 因发现转座子（染色体上自发“跳跃”的片段）获得1983年诺贝尔生理学-医学奖，成为首位独享该奖的女科学家。但是，她曾多次强调其研究重点不在转座子，而是基因控制；换句话说，看似荣誉的诺奖实则覆弊了其研究核心。早在50年代，麦克林托克通过研究玉米的控制系统，首次提出基因控制的概念，却未被科学共同体接受；1960年，两位法国细菌遗传学家——弗朗索瓦·雅各布和雅克·莫诺——在大肠杆菌中发现操纵子（控制蛋白质合成的基因系统）；麦克林托克即刻在1961年指出控制系统与操纵子十分相似，但雅各布和莫诺没能理解她的研究，这场对话以失败告终——操纵子荣获1965年诺奖，控制系统始终鲜为人知。重访麦克林托克工作了50年的冷泉港实验室，我认为1961年的对话体现了性别对科学的深远影响：科学史家伊夫林·凯勒提出，看似客观中立的科学隐含男性征服自然的欲望，而麦克林托克的研究是“性别中立科学”——她尊重自然造物、个体差异。1961年的对话映射出麦克林托克、雅各布、莫诺对自然的不同理解，被诺奖覆弊的控制系统是“性别中立科学”的冰山一角。
Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), the renowned American maize geneticist, was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize “for her discovery of mobile genetic elements,” becoming the seventh woman scientist to receive a Nobel Prize. However, as Nathaniel Comfort points out, McClintock took her key contribution as the explanation of maize control systems, rather than the discovery of mobile elements. This paper focuses on McClintock’s 1961 conversation with two bacterial geneticists, François Jacob and Jacques Monod, and shows that McClintock tried to influence the interpretation of her work by drawing parallels between maize control systems and a bacterial control system discovered by Jacob and Monod. Nevertheless, Jacob and Monod rejected McClintock’s parallels and insisted that her contribution was limited to mobile elements. Upon examining their published papers, I propose that it was Jacob and Monod who failed to understand McClintock.
Jacob and Monod’s rejection negatively influenced the reception of McClintock’s work. The disciplinary difference partly explains why they failed to understand – they were molecular geneticists working on bacteria, while McClintock was a classical geneticist on maize. I argue that gender also played a role – McClintock suffered from the Matilda effect described by Margaret Rossiter, the under-recognition of her key contribution, reinforced by the reactions of two male geneticists, and ironically, by the award of the Nobel Prize. Furthermore, the control systems embodied McClintock’s respect for organisms – the “gender-neutral science” in Evelyn Fox Keller’s words, which differed from Jacob and Monod’s understanding of nature and led to their lack of comprehension.
主讲人简介：
吴沁彦，宾夕法尼亚大学科学史与科学社会学系博士在读生，2023年费城科学史所短期研究员，2023– 2024年普林斯顿大学历史系常春藤交换学者，2024年冷泉港实验室短期研究员，2024 – 2025年美国哲学学会短期研究员。主要研究兴趣为TCM（Traditional Chinese Medicine）——标准化、制度化、 科学化、现代化的中医。曾担任费城科学史所口述史项目短期研究员，于耶鲁大学采访郑永奇教授有关中医药的研究；于科学史所网站发表“编织历史：清代外销水彩画中苎麻脱胶之迷” ；游览亚、美、欧、非洲科学博物馆，为清华大学科学博物馆公众号撰写图志。
Wu Qinyan:
I am a PhD student in the History and Sociology of Science department at the University of Pennsylvania. My research interest focuses on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) – the institutionalized and standardized, thus modernized and “scientific” form of Chinese medicine, though containing “traditional” in its name. I served as a short-term fellow at the Science History Institute in 2023 summer and did an oral history with Professor Yung-Chi Cheng at Yale Medical School about his research on Chinese medicine (manuscript is under revision). I am also working on a project about five albums of 19th-century Chinese watercolor paintings, namely “The Story of Ramie From Seed to Finished” collected at the Science History Institute, which showcase the process from planting ramie to making clothes, and have published “Weaving History: What do Qing dynasty paintings reveal about the secret of degumming ramie?” on the Science History Institute website.
