Conclusion
The first part of this paper has shown that the development of regulatory genetics and the lactose operon model stemmed from laboratory cultures rooted in local traditions. A "physiological" culture may be recognized in the Pasteurian context. The institutional continuity provided the basis for a tenuous link between Pasteur, Lwoff, and Monod. My claim is that the "national" value of regulatory and physiological genetics is an artifact produced in the course of the legitimization process accompanying the institutionalisation of the discipline. In the 1960s, the lactose operon model was turned into a "flag-object," a symbol of the new culture. The work done by the Pasteurian group became therefore the most important, if not the only, exemplar of molecular biology in France.
The second part o f the paper described the origins of general patterns that dominated the building of molecular biology in France. The study of the relationships between molecular biologists and biochemists or immunologists revealed the existence of alternatives to the development of operon research, or to the convergence with molecular biology. Both examples uncover specific paths leading to achievements that might be viewed as international trends: the expansion of RNA and translation studies, and the development of cellular immunology. They illustrate two possible patterns of linking local settings and disciplinary traditions: an oligopolistic situation where a few groups or one institution dominate an entire field, and the emergence of "collective" trends through collaboration networks or schools.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abir-am, P. G. 1983. “The Biotheoretical Gathering in England and the origins of molecular biology, 1932–38.” Ph.D. diss., Université de Montréal.
Abir-am, P. G. 1993. “The Politics of Macromolecules: Molecular Biology, Biochemists and the Biomolecular Revolution.”Osiris, Second Series, 7, pp. 164–199.
Amsterdamska, O. 1987. “Biological and Medical Constraints: Early Research on Variation in Bacteriology.”Soc. Stud. Sci., 17: 657–687.
Brock, T. D. 1990.The Emergence of Bacterial Genetics., Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Buican, D. 1984.Histoire de la génétique et de l'évolutionisme en France. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Burian, R., and J. Gayon. 1991. “Un évolutioniste bernardien à l'Institute Pasteur? Morphologie des ciliés et évolution physiologique dans l'oeuvre d'André Lwoff.“ InL'Institut Pasteur, ed. M. Morange, pp. 165–186. Paris: La Découverte.
Burian, R., J. Gayon, and D. Zallen. 1988. “The Singular Fate of Genetics in the History of French biology, 1900–1940,”J. Hist. Biol., 21: 357–402.
Debru, C. 1983.L'esprit des protéines. Paris: Herman.
— 1992. “Les travaux de R. Wurmser sur la photosynthèse.” Presented at the Dijon colloquium, Les sciences biologiques et médicales en France, 1920–1950.
Englesberg, E. 1961. “Enzymatic Characterization of 17 Arabinose Mutants ofE. coli”J. Bacter. 81: 996–998.
Fantini, B. 1988.J. Monod: Pour une éthique de la connaissance. Paris: La Découverte.
Fougereau, M. 1975.Éléments d'immonologie fondamentale. Paris: Masson.
Galperin, C. 1987. “Le bactériophage, la lysogénie et son déterminisme génétique.”Hist. Phil. Life Sci. 9: 175–224.
Gaudillière, J. P. 1990. “Chimie biologique ou biologie moléculaire: La biochimie au CNRS dans les années soixante.”Cah. Hist. CNRS, 7: 91–147.
— 1991a. “Biologie moléculaire et biologistes dans les années soixante. La naissance d'une discipline. Le cas français.” Thèse Université Paris VII.
— 1991b. “Catalyse enzymatique et oxydations cellulaires. L'oeuvre de G. Bertrand et la biochimie française dans l'entre-deux-guerres.” InL'Institut Pasteur: Contributions à son histoire, ed. M. Morange, pp. 118–136. Paris: La Découverte.
— 1992a. “J. Monod, S. Spiegelman et l'adaptation enzymatique: Programmes de recherche, cultures locales et traditions disciplinaires.”Hist. Phil. Life Sci., 14: pp. 29–78.
— 1992b. “Entre le laboratoire et l'hôpital: Biochimistes et biomédecine dans L'après-guerre Sciences Sociales et Santé, 10: pp. 107–147.
Gayon, J. 1992. “B. Ephrussi et le contrôle génétique de la pigmentation de l'oeil de Drosophile.”" Presented at the Dijon colloquium, Les sciences biologiqueset médicales en France, 1920–1950.
Grmek, M., and B. Fantini. 1982. “Le rôle du hasard dans la naissance du modèle de l'opéron.”Rev. Hist. Sci., 35: 193–215.
Gross, J., and E. Englesberg. 1959. “Determination of the Order of Mutational Sites Governing Arabinose Utilisation inE. coli B/r by Transduction with Phage P1bt.”Virology, 9: 314–323.
Hellig, R. H., and R. Weinberg. 1963. “Complementation Studies of Arabinose Genes inE. coli.”Genetics, 48: 1397–1419.
Judson, H. F. 1979.The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kay, L. 1985. “Conceptual Models and Analytical Tools: The Biology of Physicist Max Delbrück.”J. Hist. Biol., 18: 207–246.
Kohler, R. E. 1982.From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry: The Making of a Biomedical Discipline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
— 1991. “Systems of Production: Drosophila, Neurospora, and Biochemical Genetics.”Hist. Stud. Phys. Biol. Sci., 21: 87–130.
Lowy, I. 1991. “The Immunological Construction of the Self.” InOrganism and the Origins of Self, ed A. I. Tauber, pp. 43–75. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Sciences, no. 129. Boston: Kluwer.
Mazumdar, P. H., ed. 1989.Immunology, 1930–1980: Essays on the History of Immunology. Toronto: Wall and Thompson.
Monod, J. 1945. “Sur la nature de phénomène de diauxie.”Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 71: 37–42.
— 1947. “The Phenomenon of Enzymatic Adaptation: Its Bearings on Problems of Genetics and Cellular Differentiation.”Growth, 2: 223–289.
— 1958. “An Outline of Enzyme Induction.”Recueil Trav. Chim. Pays-Bas, 77: 568–587.
— 1965. “Pourquoi la France est scientifiquement sous-développée.” Interview,Nouvel Observateur, October 20.
Monod, J., and M. Cohn. 1952. “La biosynthèse induite des enzymes.”Adv. Enzymol.,13: 67-pp.
— 1953. “Sur le mécanisme de synthèse d'une protéine bactérienne.” Paper read at 6th International Congress of Microbiology, Rome.
Moulin, A. M. 1990. “Histoire d'une science non historique: L'immunologie au CNRS.”Cah. Hist. CNRS, 7: 7–22.
— 1991.Le dernier langage de la médecine: Histoire de l'immunologie de Pasteur au Sida. Paris: PUF.
Pappenheimer, A. M. 1980. “Qu'est devenu Pz?” InLes origines de la biologie moléculaire: Un hommage à J. Monod, ed. A. Lwoff and A. Ullmann, pp. 55–60. Montreal: Études Vivantes.
Picard, J. F. 1990.La République des savants: La Recherche française et le CNRS. Paris: Flammarion.
— 1992. “Poussée scientifique ou demande de médecins? L'organisation de la recherche médicale en France de l'Institut National d'Hygiène à l'INSERM.”Sciences Sociales et Santé, 10: pp. 47–106.
Polanco, X. 1990. “La mise en place d'un reseau scientifique: Les rôles du CNRS et de la DGRST dans l'institutionalisation de la biologie moléculaire en France.”Cah. Hist. CNRS 7: 55–90.
Rainger, R., Benson, K. R., and Maienschein, J., eds. 1988.The American Development of Biology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Rheinberger, H.-J. 1993. “Experiment and orientation: Early Systems ofin Vitro Protein Synthesis.”J. Hist. Biol., this issue.
Sapp. J. 1987.Beyond the Gene: Cytoplasmic Inheritance and the Struggle for Authority in Genetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schaffner, K. F. 1974. “Logic of Discovery and Justification in Regulatory Genetics.”Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci., 4: 349–385.
Zallen, D. 1991a. “Louis Rapkine and the Restoration of French Science after the Second World War.”French Hist. Stud., 17: 6–37.
— 1991b. “The Rockefeller Foundation and Spectroscopy Research: The Programs at Chicago and Utrecht.”J. Hist. Biol., 25: 67–90.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gaudillière, JP. Molecular biology in the French tradition? Redefining local traditions and disciplinary patterns. J Hist Biol 26, 473–498 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062058
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062058