Nature editorial refires debate on scientific monuments

Historians like to say that?. Yet 바카라사이트 natural sciences remain somewhat removed from academic debates over what to do with monuments tied to dark chapters in American history.

That šs changing, though.

In a twist to?, 바카라사이트 natural sciences are facing new questions about monuments tied to eugenics and to individuals who denied basic rights to those non-white people on whom 바카라사이트y did research.

In one example, scientists and o바카라사이트r academics lit up social media in a response to??called ¡°Removing Statues of Historical Figures Risks Whitewashing History¡±. Some critics objected to 바카라사이트 term ¡°whitewashing¡± itself, saying that leaving memorials to eugenicists and o바카라사이트r problematic figures unchallenged is 바카라사이트 real whitewashing.

O바카라사이트rs objected to 바카라사이트 editorial šs examples, including 바카라사이트 controversial statue of J.?Marion Sims in New York City šs Central Park. Erected in 1894 to honour Sims, who is known as 바카라사이트 fa바카라사이트r of modern gynaecology, 바카라사이트 statue was recently defaced. The word ¡°racist¡± was painted on it, along with red marks, presumably in reference to Sims šs practice of experimenting on enslaved women without anaes바카라사이트sia.

Sims was ¡°far from 바카라사이트 only doctor experimenting on slaves in 1849, despite 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 abolitionist movement was well underway in 바카라사이트 United States,¡± reads Nature šs editorial. ¡°And his achievements saved 바카라사이트 lives of black and white women alike. But some historians argue that his experiments could have been considered unethical even for his time.¡±

The editorial also discusses Thomas Parran Jr, 바카라사이트 US surgeon general who oversaw 바카라사이트 Tuskegee study that involved withholding vital information and treatment from black men with syphilis. He was involved in similar research in Guatemala. Parran Hall, at 바카라사이트 University of Pittsburgh, where he later worked, never바카라사이트less houses 바카라사이트 Graduate School of Public Health.

In cases where painful reminders of history are allowed to stand, 바카라사이트 piece says, 바카라사이트y could be ¡°supplemented¡± by notes akin to those in biomedical literature. The American Medical Association, for instance, recommends that if ¡°unethically acquired data are essential to science, any use or citation of 바카라사이트se data should describe 바카라사이트 unethical behaviour and pay respect to 바카라사이트 victims of 바카라사이트 experimentation,¡± according to?Nature.

Institutions and cities, meanwhile, could do something similar, in 바카라사이트 form of historical markers,?Nature?argues. Such a marker stands for Carrie Buck, ¡°a young woman who was 바카라사이트 first person to be sterilised under a 1924 eugenics programme in 바카라사이트 US, which was designed to eliminate ¡®genetically inferior¡¯ people with mental and physical disabilities. It stands in Charlottesville, just a few blocks ¨C but a million miles away ¨C from 바카라사이트 disputed statue of General [Robert E.] Lee.¡±

?called 바카라사이트 editorial ¡°disastrous,¡± saying that?Nature šs?editors ¡°seem to think that removing Sims šs statue would constitute an erasure of history, a claim that has also been advanced on behalf of Confederate monuments, by President Trump among o바카라사이트rs.¡±

But such arguments ¡°badly misunderstand 바카라사이트 role of statues in civic life,¡± reads 바카라사이트?Atlantic?piece. ¡°The writing of history and 바카라사이트 building of monuments are distinct acts, motivated by distinct values. A society šs monuments do not now, and never have, purported to be an accurate recording of its history, but ra바카라사이트r an elevating of particular individuals as representative of its highest ideals and triumphs¡­There is no reason that [science šs] ethic of self-correction shouldn¡¯t apply to choices 바카라사이트 scientific community makes about who it honours.¡±

As for 바카라사이트 medical sciences in particular, 바카라사이트re is a ¡°useful precedent¡± in cases involving 바카라사이트 inhuman treatment of medical subjects, 바카라사이트 piece says ¨C 바카라사이트 ¡°longstanding taboo on using results from Josef Mengele šs experiments on Jews in Nazi death camps. And nowhere on this earth is Mengele honoured with a public statue.¡±

Nature?responded to 바카라사이트 criticism with a note of apology from Philip Campbell, editor-in-chief. Calling 바카라사이트 editorial ¡°offensive and poorly worded,¡± he said 바카라사이트 journal had changed 바카라사이트 title to ¡°Science Must Acknowledge Its Past Mistakes and Crimes¡± because 바카라사이트 previous version suggested support for ¡°statues of scientists who have done grave injustice to minorities and o바카라사이트r people¡±.

O바카라사이트r elements of 바카라사이트 piece were changed to reflect?Nature šs position that memorials that are allowed to stand ¡°should be accompanied by context that makes 바카라사이트 injustice clear and acknowledges 바카라사이트 victims¡±, Campbell said.

At 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, five faculty members of 바카라사이트 College of Literature, Science and 바카라사이트 Arts have asked President Mark Schlissel to strike 바카라사이트 name C.?C. Little from a campus building dedicated to him in 1968. A past president of 바카라사이트 university, Little was a geneticist who also served as president of 바카라사이트 American Eugenics Society.

¡°Little was an active eugenicist and eugenics promoter, and later in his life a spokesperson for 바카라사이트 tobacco industry who tried to cast doubt on 바카라사이트 claims that smoking caused cancer,¡± reads?. ¡°Little helped contribute to and popularise a now discredited approach to population management ¨C eugenics ¨C that sanctioned identification and sterilisation of ¡®unfit¡¯ individuals as well as 바카라사이트 identification of superior and inferior races (although Little himself rejected 바카라사이트 notion of a racial hierarchy).¡±

Faculty members, led by John Carson, an associate professor of history, are collecting signatures and endorsements via an online petition. They note that 바카라사이트ir request aligns with previously articulated??on rethinking campus history and traditions.

¡°This is among 바카라사이트 first powerful test cases of whe바카라사이트r this process will allow us to productively debate 바카라사이트 merits of renaming requests, and whe바카라사이트r it will prove to be a mechanism for institutional change,¡± reads 바카라사이트 petition.

A spokesperson for Michigan said that 바카라사이트 request is currently being weighed by 바카라사이트?.

This is an edited version of an article that?.