Daniel J. Kevles is an American historian of science

History of science and technology

The history of science and technology is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of the natural world and ability to manipulate it have changed over the centuries...

. He is currently the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, a position he assumed in 2001. He was previously a professor of the humanities at the California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

, where he also served as faculty chair, from 1964 to 2001.

His research interests have been primarily on the history of science in America, the interactions between science and society, and environmentalism. He is best known for his survey works, which generalize large amounts of historical information into readable and coherent narratives. His books include The Physicists (1978), a history of the American physics community, In the Name of Eugenics (1985), currently the standard text on the history of eugenics

Eugenics

Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...

 in the United States, and The Baltimore Case (1998), a study of accusations of scientific fraud.

The mathematician Serge Lang

Serge Lang

Serge Lang was a French-born American mathematician. He was known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra...

 subsequently waged an unsuccessful campaign to prevent Kevles from being granted tenure

Tenure

Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...

 at Yale, claiming that Kevles' book was too sympathetic to David Baltimore

David Baltimore

David Baltimore is an American biologist, university administrator, and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He served as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, and is currently the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech...

. Although sharply criticized by Lang and some others as well, it was generally praised for meticulous scholarship and detailed reporting.

In 2001 Kevles was awarded the Sarton Medal

George Sarton Medal

The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifetime of scholarly achievement" in the field...

 by the History of Science Society

History of Science Society

The History of Science Society is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science.It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912....

. Recently he has been working on a history of the uses of intellectual property

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

 in relation to the life sciences from the eighteenth century to the present.

External links

• Yale U. History Dept. Kevles page
• Radio: "Scientific Misconduct," Hour One on Science Friday, Talk of the Nation
  Talk of the Nation
  Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
  
  , NPR
  NPR
  NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
  
  2 October 1998 http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/1998/Oct/hour1_100298.html: discussion of research fraud, Baltimore Case, and Kevles' "The Baltimore Case..."; Guests: D.J. Kevles, D.S. Greenberg, and C.K. Gunsalus.