[...]... seen through the people at the root of it, through their social and intellectual biographies, the influences they have had, their inotivations and the spirit in which they undertook their xviii From Biotechnology to Genomes: A Meaning for the Double Helix studies Great projects cannot be separated from the destinies of the people involved, nor can the intellectualprocess be separated from the iiiany meetings... by the EEC5 during the 1980s These large-scale programs, especially the Human Genome Project, popularized the idea that DNA was the key to a new radiant fLlture, to the new “bio-society”6, and to the conquest of a new frontier that would allow the fill1 realization of modern biotechnology s potential The aims of this chapter on biotechnology are twofold: firstly, to better situate the birth of the. .. dedicated to the study of natural products Chemistry had rejected Stahl, but it sanctified Liebig and became one of the biggest success stories of the 1800s The rapid growth of the big German chemical firms testifled to the vision of a science of the artificial l 3 This tranhmihsion of the intenial movement of decomposition inside matter is at the heart of Liebig’s theory IL denieh any essential role to the. .. technologies themselves, that use living cells to degrade, synthesize or niodifL substances have to be multidisciplinary as their products are used in many sectors of human society, such as: 4 From Biofechnology f Genomes: A Meaningfor the Double Helix o - Microbiological engineering, i.e the search for, collection, selection and conservation of microbial strains, and the study of the way they operate - Biochemical... s to understand the highly multidisciplinaiy histoiy and evolution of biotechnology and the genome progranis The multidisciplinary coniponents involve: - The scientific and technical bases - The multisectoral applications - The industrial and economic dimensions - The national, European and international political levels - The institutional and international organizations - The legal dimensions - The. .. opinion, but Stahl’s work inarks the foundation of the subject of biotechnology in a time when its specific characteristics -the process of fermentation and the potential of the science-technology relationship -were themselves still developing He was the first to express the now long-standing hope that an understanding of the scientific basis of fermentation could lead to iinproveinents in its commercial... may mean for the future This book hopes to providc the public, often kept in thc dark, the opportunity to keep current on the new progress in biology and the risks linked to the new direction science is taking The only way to control them is to transcend both the approach of the geneticist and the industrials, and to remember that living beings are more than just vectors for the transfer of genetic inforniation... maslung the lightness of the ideas For this reason, and in order to respect the story of modem biology and in particular its multidimensional nahire, the historian-philosopher must go to meet those actually doing the science, dive into their culture, follow them in their paths and pilgrimages, understand the web of their community, their intellectual, cultural and social evolution and accept the humility... at which they work and publish is the consequence of this as well as the result of the new methods being used These methods have allowed discovery in the field of life sciences to accelerate to an unprecedented pace, but they also have deep consequences in the organization and work patterns of laboratories, leading to ever larger teams of youiig researchers, mostly at the thesis or post-doctoral level,... and their ideas have brought changes su swecping in their scopc that thcy have modified our pcrccptions of the naturc of the universe The first of these changcs was in physics, with biology hot on its hecls The rcvolution in physics started in the beginning of the 20th Century with the theories of quantum mechanics and relativity It was concerned with thc inside of thc atom and the structure of space-time, . Biotechnologyto Genomes: A Meaning for the Double Helix 3 The Foundations of the Heralded Revolution 3.1 From the Frontiers of Genetics to the Birth of Molecular Biology 3.2 The Secret of Life:. Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium Contents Foreword Introduction: The Essence of Life and the Labyrinth of the Genome 1 The Invention of Biotechnology 1.1 The Origins of Biotechnology 1.2 The. largely-unexplored and immense world will remain - that of the Eubacterial and Archebacterial kingdoms. V vi From Biofechnology to Genomes: A Meaning for the Double Helix In the next