The Electrophoretic Revolution in the 1960s: Historical Epistemology Meets the Global History of Science and Technology **

Abstract: This paper uses zone electrophoresis, one of the most frequently used tools in molecular biology, to explore two ideas derived from Hans‐Jörg Rheinberger's reflections on experiments. First, the constraining role played by technical objects—instrumentation and material conditions—in the production of knowledge or epistemic things. Second, the production of interconnected experimental systems by such technical objects, which results in the unexpected entanglement of research fields and experimental cultures. By the beginning of the 1960s, the inception of zone electrophoresis in laboratories around the world transformed—some say, revolutionized—the study of proteins. Even today, electrophoresis continues to open research venues and questions in biomedicine, molecular biology, human genetics, and in the field of molecular evolution. In my essay, I seek to look at the interconnected lives of zone electrophoresis and address the broader social, and even global context, in which this apparently humble technique became a salient tool in the production of biological knowledge. In so doing, I aim to take the past and present of the history and historiography of experimental systems to the future, where experiments and technologies are interrogated as they are used in different geographies and contexts, including contexts of poverty.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: The Electrophoretic Revolution in the 1960s: Historical Epistemology Meets the Global History of Science and Technology ** ; volume:45 ; number:3 ; year:2022 ; pages:332-343 ; extent:12 ; Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte ; 45, Heft 3 (2022), 332-343 (gesamt 12)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Suárez‐Díaz, Edna

Further information

• DOI: 10.1002/bewi.202200024
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022091015155074929075
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:29 AM CEST