The Uses of Life A History of Biotechnology [Paperback]

This first history of biotechnology provides a readable and challenging account that will be of interest to anyone interested in this key component of modern industry.Exploring the rich and suprisingly overlooked complex of prophesies, industrial and scientific development and government programs, this book sheds new light on the expectations now held for biotechnology in a world-wide view spanning America, Europe and Japan.Exploring the rich and suprisingly overlooked complex of prophesies, industrial and scientific development and government programs, this book sheds new light on the expectations now held for biotechnology in a world-wide view spanning America, Europe and Japan.This book shows, for the first time, how modern biotechnology grew out of this century's hopes for a new relationship between biology and engineering. Long before recombinant DNA, these promised a new kind of technology. By exploring the rich and surprisingly overlooked complex of prophesies, industrial and scientific development and government programs, the book sheds new light on the expectations now held for biotechnology. A world-wide view, covering developments, not just in America but also in Europe and Japan, uncovers surprising links. This makes possible a coherent story to supersede the historical notes which have been available until now. This first history of biotechnology provides a readable and challenging account that will appeal to anyone interested in the development of this key component of modern industry.List of illustrations; Foreword M. F. Cantley (Head of Concentration Unit for Biotechnology in Europe (CUBE) Directorate General for Science, Research and Development Commission of the European Communities); Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The origins of zymotechnology; 2. From zymotechnology to biotechnology; 3. The engineering of nature; 4. Institutional reality; 5. The chemical engineering front; 6. Biotechnology - the green technology; 7. From professional to polil-