Working with Dr. Peter Galison at Harvard University, the PI is beginning a major study of the history of biological electron microscopy. He is exploring the introduction and impact of this machine as an instrument for life sciences. Specimen preparation techniques, initially quite inadequate, were adapted from light microscopy, from non-related disciplines, and invented outright through the 40s and 50s. With each major change in preparative technique came surprising appearances, necessitating related innovations in epistemological technique (e.g. micrograph interpretation). Dr. Rasmussen is studying in detail a small number of Americans in the 40s, at institutions such as the Rockefeller Institute, Penn, MIT and especially RCA's New Jersey labs, responsible for many of the crucial innovations. He is also examining dissemination of students and practices from these labs in the first postwar years. For the period from the mid-50s to the mid-70s, he is taking a selective approach to the burgeoning field. To illuminate the epistemological roles of the electron microscope in diverse biological disciplines, Dr. Rasmussen is examining several major controversies involving the instrument. Finally, he is comparing the megavolt electron microscope (introduced about 1970) in French and American life science. This last undertaking provides insights into the issues of national context for science and the prospects of "big science" in biology. Because of the importance of this project for understanding the processes for introducing new instrumentation in biology, this project is being supported both by the Biological Instrumentation and Resources Division and by the Office of Studies in Science, Technology and Society.
