Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“A Cold Spring Harbor in Europe.” EURATOM, UNESCO and the Foundation of EMBO

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article explores the problem of the foundation of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), by reconstructing a broader institutional framework, which includes other international actors – EURATOM, UNESCO and the International Laboratory of Genetics and Biophysics (ILGB) in Naples – and a relevant, but still neglected figure, the Italian geneticist Adriano Buzzati-Traverso (1913–1983). The article considers the tension between centralized and federal models of organization in the field of life sciences not just as an EMBO internal controversy, but rather as a structural issue of European scientific cooperation in fundamental biology in the early 1960s. Along with EMBO, the article analyzes in particular the EURATOM Biology Division Program and the constitution of UNESCO International Cell Research Organization (ICRO). Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, as founder of ILGB and scientific consultant of EURATOM and UNESCO, played a crucial role in the complex negotiation which ultimately led to the foundation of EMBO. A synchronic treatment of ILGB, EURATOM, UNESCO-ICRO and EMBO opens a window on the early 1960s institutional configuration of molecular biology in Europe, showing how it basically incorporated the “Cold Spring Harbor” decentralized model rather than reproducing the “CERN” centralized model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abir-Am, Pnina. 1992. “From Multidisciplinary Collaboration to Transnational Objectivity: International Space as Constitutive of Molecular Biology, 1930–1970.” Elisabeth Crawford, Terry Shinn, and Sverker Sörlin (eds.), Denationalizing Science. The Contexts of International Scientific Practice. Dordrecht-Boston-London:Kluwer, pp. 153–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexandre, Henri. 1992. “Jean Brachet and His School.” International Journal of Developmental Biology 36: 29–41.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beatty, John. 1991. “Genetics in the Atomic Age: The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, 1947–1956.” Keith R Benson, Jane Maienschein, and Ronald Rainger (eds.), The Expansion of American Biology. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 284–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bocking, Stephen. 1995. “Ecosystems, Ecologists, and the Atom: Environmental Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.” Journal of the History of Biology 28: 1–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boera, Giuliana (ed.). 1968. Laboratorio Internazionale di Genetica e Biofisica del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. 1962/1967. Cinque anni di attività. Napoli: LIGB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capocci, Mauro. 2006. “Tra biologia e utopia. Adriano Buzzati-Traverso nella scienza italiana.” Medicina nei Secoli 18(1): 179–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capocci, Mauro and Corbellini, Gilberto. 2002. “Adriano Buzzati-Traverso and the Foundation of the International Laboratory of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples (1962–1969).” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33C(3): 489–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassata, Francesco. 2013. L’Italia intelligente. Adriano Buzzati-Traverso e il Laboratorio molecolare di genetica e biofisica, 1962–1969. Roma: Donzelli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassata, Francesco and Strasser, Bruno J. 2014. The Foundation of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), 1963–1969. Heidelberg: EMBO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Consolazio, William V. 1961. “Dilemma of Academic Biology in Europe.” Science 133(3468): 1892–1896.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Creager, A.N.H., and Santesmases, M.J. 2006. “Radiobiology in the Atomic Age: Changing Research Practises and Policies in Comparative Perspective.” Journal of the History of Biology 39(4): 637–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creager, Angela N. H. 2014. Life Atomic. A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Chadarevian, Soraya. 2002. Designs for Life. Molecular Biology After World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Chadarevian, Soraya. 2006. “Mice and the reactor: The ‘Genetics Experiment’ in 1950s Britain.” Journal of the History of Biology 39(4): 707–735.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Chadarevian, Soraya and Strasser, Bruno J. 2002. “Molecular Biology in Post-war Europe: Towards a ‘Glocal’ Picture.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33(3): 361–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Sio, Fabio, 2012. “Monroy, Alberto.” In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 75. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.

  • Deichmann, Ute. 2002. “Emigration, Isolation and the Slow Start of Molecular Biology in Germany.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33(3): 449–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dufour, Franck, Hasler, Julia, and Hoareau, Lucy. 2006. Biological Science to be or not to be. UNESCO’s Biological and Microbiological Programmes. In Sixty Years of UNESCO. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 134–143.

  • Ferry, Georgina. 2014. EMBO in Perspective. A Half-Century in the Life Sciences. Heidelberg: EMBO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaudillière, Jean-Paul. 2002. Inventer la biomédicine. La France, l’Amérique et la production des savoirs du vivant: 1945–1965. Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaudillière, Jean-Paul. 2006. “Normal Pathways: Controlling Isotopes and Building Biomedical Research in Postwar France.” Journal of the History of Biology 39(4): 737–764.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kafatos, Fotis C. 1997. “Today’s Viewpoint on EMBL.” John Krige and Luca Guzzetti (eds.), History of European Scientific and Technological Cooperation. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, pp. 93–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendrew, John C. 1968. “EMBO and the Idea of a European Laboratory.” Nature 218(5144): 840–842.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Krige, John. 1997. “The Politics of European Scientific Collaboration.” John Krige and Dominique Pestre (eds.), Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century. London: Harwood Academic Publishers, pp. 897–918.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krige, John. 2002. “The Birth of EMBO and the Difficult Road to EMBL.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33C(3): 547–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krige, John. 2013. “European Molecular Biology Organisation/Laboratory (EMBO/EMBL).” eLS. Chichester: Wiley. http://www.els.net. doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0024935.

  • Lindee, Susan. 1994. Suffering Made Real. American Science and the Survivors at Hiroshima. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rader, Karen A. 2006. “Alexander Hollaender’s Postwar Vision of Biology: Oak Ridge and Beyond.” Journal of the History of Biology 39(4): 685–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, Nicolas. 1997. “The Mid-Century Biophysics Bubble: Hiroshima and the Biological Revolution in America, Revisited.” History of Science 35: 245–293.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Santesmases, María Jesús. 2002. “National Politics and International Trends: EMBO and the Making of Molecular Biology in Spain (1960–1975).” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33C(3): 473–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santesmases, María Jesús. 2006. “Peace Propaganda and Biomedical Experimentation: Influential Uses of Radioisotopes in Endocrinology and Molecular Genetics in Spain (1947–1971).” Journal of the History of Biology 39: 765–794

  • Sapp, Jan. 1997. “Jean Brachet, l’hérédité générale and the Origins of Molecular Embryology.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 19(1): 69–87.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J. 2002. “Institutionalizing Molecular Biology in Post-war Europe: A Comparative Study.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33C(3): 515–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J. 2003. “The Transformation of the Biological Sciences in Post-war Europe.” EMBO Reports 4(6): 540–543.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J. 2006. La fabrique d’une nouvelle science. La biologie moléculaire à l’âge atomique (1945–1964). Firenze: Olschki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J. 2009. “The Coproduction of Neutral Science and Neutral State in Cold War Europe: Switzerland and International Scientific Cooperation, 1951–1969.” Osiris 24(1): 165–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J. and Joye, Frédéric. 2005a. “Une science « neutre » dans la Guerre froide ? La Suisse et la coopération scientifique européenne (1951–1969).” Revue Suisse d’Histoire 55(1): 95–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strasser, Bruno J., and Joye, Frédéric. 2005b. “L’atome, l’espace et les molécules. La coopération scientifique internationale comme nouvel outil de la diplomatie helvétique (1951–1969).” Relations Internationales 121: 59–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tooze, John. 1989. “The role of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC) in European Molecular Biology.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 29: S38–S46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaniv, Moshe. 1997. “European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO): Current State and Future.” John Krige and Luca Guzzetti (eds.), History of European Scientific and Technological Cooperation. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, pp. 97–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenkel, Simone and Deichmann, Ute. 2007. Max Delbrück and Cologne: An Early Chapter of German Molecular Biology. Singapore-London: World Scientific Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Early research for this article was funded by the Fondazione Adriano Buzzati-Traverso (Pavia) and by the European Molecular Biology Organization (Heidelberg). I would like to thank Gherardo Bonini (EURATOM Archives, Fiesole); Colin Harris (Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford); Anita Hollier (CERN Archives, Geneva) and Adele Torrance (UNESCO Archive, Paris) for excellent archival assistance. I am grateful to Mauro Capocci, Maria Conforti and Gilberto Corbellini for allowing me access to Adriano Buzzati-Traverso’s Papers (Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Sezione di Storia della Medicina). For helpful comments on an earlier draft, I am grateful to Luc Berlivet, Bernd Gausemeier, John Krige and Bruno J. Strasser. I also wish to acknowledge the constructive suggestions offered by two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Antichità Filosofia Storia e Geografia (DAFIST), University of Genoa, Via Balbi 6, 16126, Genoa, Italy

    Francesco Cassata

Authors
  1. Francesco Cassata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Cassata.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cassata, F. “A Cold Spring Harbor in Europe.” EURATOM, UNESCO and the Foundation of EMBO. J Hist Biol 48, 539–573 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-015-9408-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-015-9408-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation