Author: Adam Rutherford
Control, The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics is a non-fiction book written by Adam Rutherford in 2022, handling topics of genetics, history, and political ideology.
Most of his publications - both books and articles - discuss the interdisciplinary relationship between eugenics, science, and race.
While inspired by Charles Darwin’s thoughts on evolution, the book still is quite argumentative in terms of human biology and genetics.
Rutherford talks about heredity and how it is ruled by human genetics and its related sciences.
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, Geneticist Francis Galton defined eugenics as “the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations.”
The book is divided into two parts. In part one titled Quality Control, Rutherford traces the history of eugenics as far back as Roman times, to the US’s compulsory sterilization in the 1930s and Nazi Germany.
He sheds light on books five and four of The Republic, where Plato commended population and breeding control even for children in poverty.
In part two titled Same As It Was, Rutherford lays out the facts that eugenics did not end with the Third Reich in Germany. He delves deeper into the aftermath of such practices through the Doctor’s Trial and the Nuremberg code.
Rutherford is currently a lecturer in Biology and Society in the genetics, evolution, and environment Division of Biosciences at University College London.
In 2021, Rutherford won The Royal Society David Attenborough Award Lecture on the politics of DNA.
He holds a Ph.D. in developmental genetics of the retina in mammals at the Institute of Child Health at UCL.
Other books he had written include How to Argue With a Racist, The Book of Humans, and A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived.
Rutherford also worked as a scientific consultant for movies such as Ex Machina, Annihilation, World War Z, and even The Cat in The Hat. a
