This group examines the history of the evolutionary synthesis of genetics and natural selection, and its impact upon agriculture, and theories of race and eugenics.
Speaker Marcelo Monetti Pavani M.A. in Science Education, University of São Paulo (PIEC-USP) Affiliated with LaHBE-USP
Presentation “Spencer, Lamarck e a angústia da influência” [“Spencer, Lamarck, and the Anxiety of Influence”]
In this presentation, Pavani will discuss aspects of Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary theory, with particular attention to the distinctive way in which Spencer appropriated ideas from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and addressed Lamarck’s influence on his own theoretical framework.
The lecture will be delivered in Portuguese.
Friday, June 19, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
TBA
Past Meetings
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Speaker: Dr. Ilana Löwy (Paris, France) Emerita Senior Research Fellow at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.
Presentation: “Zika e a questão complexa do aborto 'eugênico' por indicação fetal. [Zika and the tangled issue of an 'eugenic' abortion for fetal indication].”
New book by the author: Löwy, I. (2024). Viruses and Reproductive Injustice. Johns Hopkins University Press. Please access more information about the book here.
Suggested Readings:
1—Löwy, I. (2020). Abortion for fetal anomaly: how to speak about a difficult topic. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 36. Read Article.
2—Paul, D. Β., & Löwy, I. (2018). On Objectivity in Prenatal Genetic Care. OBM Genetics, 2(2), 1–1. Read Article.
3—Löwy, I. (2024). Chapter Two (Fetuses: Women, Doctors, and the Law) from 'Viruses and Reproductive Injustice: Zika in Brazil'. Johns Hopkins University Press. (Attached on our website).
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about Dr. Löwy, please click here.
Join us for this engaging discussion!
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Speaker: M.Sc. Alexandre Verçosa Greco (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Master's graduate (2023) from the Graduate Program in History of Sciences and Health at Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz. Professor at the Department of Education of the State of Rio de Janeiro, SEEDUC/RJ.
Presentation: “O médico Mário Victor de Assis Pacheco no debate sobre o controle populacional (1968-1985)” [Doctor Mário Victor de Assis Pacheco in the debate on population control (1968-1985)].
Explore Previous Works: To learn more about Mr. Greco, please click here to access his Master's thesis.
Join us for this engaging discussion!
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Speakers: Dr. Rosanna Dent New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey, United States.
Reading: “Human enhancement, ectogenesis and immortality: Russian cosmism and the archaeology of the transhumanism” (click here).
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Guests: Ana Carolina Vimieiro Gomes, Professor of History of Sciences at the Department of History at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Rosanna Dent, Assistant Professor, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Presentation: “Explorando a história oral na história da genética humana no Brasil.”
Reading: soon.
Previous works: Please click here (Gomes) e and here (Dent).
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Guest: Vedran Duančić, PhD in History and Civilization from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy
Presentation: “Lysenkoism in Socialist Yugoslavia: Science and Politics across the Iron Curtain”
Title of the presentation: "Allies and Obstacles: Disability Activism and Parents of Children with Disabilities"
Reading: Sometimes Allies: Parent-Led Disability Organizations and Social Movements. Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) Vol. 39 No. 1 (2019): Winter 2019.
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Title of the presentation: "As contribuições de Nettie Maria Stevens para a teoria cromossômica: estudos sobre a determinação de sexo." Ana Paula Morais, PhD, Universidade Nove de Julho - Uninove, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Title of the presentation: " 'From Small Beginnings...:' Addressing the continuing shadows of eugenics".
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Miguel Ernesto Gabriel Couceiro de Oliveira, PhD in History of Science and Health, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Fiocruz, Brazil. Title of the presentation: "The Center of Genetic Research of the National Faculty of Philosophy of University of Brazil: the institutionalization of genetics in Rio de Janeiro (1945-1968)"
Reading: The summary for the presentation is attached. Click here to access Miguel Oliveira's doctoral thesis.
William deJong-Lambert is a Professor of History at Bronx Community College, CUNY who will be spending the spring semester 2025 teaching at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul as a Fulbright scholar while researching a biography of Theodosius Dobzhansky.
Paula Habib
Paula Habib is a Professor of History at the Federal University Fluminense (UFF/Brazil). Habib´s research specializes in history of agriculture, genetics, history of biology and eugenics during the first decades of the 20 th century. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Science and Health by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Marcelo Lima Loreto
Marcelo Lima Loreto is a science journalist and historian of science who writes for Folha de S.Paulo and other media outlets. He was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Institute of Latin American Studies (2022–2023) and a Research Fellow at the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (2021–2022). He received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2019. His work examines the history of evolution, heredity, and the life sciences in Brazil. Dissertation here: http://bibcegos.nce.ufrj.br/hcte/docs/teses/2019/marcelo_lima_loreto.pdf
