Evelyn Fox Keller

Historian and Philosopher of Science Class of 1992
location icon Location
Berkeley, California
age iconAge
56 at time of award
age iconDate Deceased
September 22, 2023

About Evelyn's Work

Evelyn Fox Keller is a scholar whose interdisciplinary work raises important questions about the interrelationships among language, gender, and science.

Keller is best known in the field of mathematical biology for her contributions on morphogenesis, the formation and differentiation of tissues and organs.  Her essays have analyzed the social construction of science and made an intellectual contribution to discussions of gender and to analyses of language and science.  She stimulated thought about alternative styles of scientific research in her book, A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock (1983).

Biography

Keller is a professor of the history and philosophy of science in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  She is the author of numerous works, including Reflections on Gender and Science (1985), Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death (1992), Refiguring Life: Metaphors of Twentieth Century Biology (1995), The Century of the Gene (2000), and Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines (2002).

Keller received a B.A. (1957) from Brandeis University, an M.A. (1959) from Radcliffe College, and a Ph.D. (1963) from Harvard University.

Last updated January 1, 2005

Published on July 1, 1992

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