Dorothy Wolfers Nelkin was an American sociologist of science most noted for her work researching and chronicling interplay between science, technology and the general public.
20 Facts About Dorothy Nelkin
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Dorothy Nelkin was the author or co-author of 26 books, including Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, and Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age.
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Dorothy Nelkin often addressed the legal community, political leaders, and the general public on issues concerning science studies, bioethics, and the public assessment of science and technology.
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In 1987, Dorothy Nelkin left Cornell to join New York University as a visiting professor.
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Dorothy Nelkin began her career by researching the experiences of African-American migrant farm workers in New York State.
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Dorothy Nelkin wrote about media influences on science and technology in Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology.
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Dorothy Nelkin followed up with two other books, Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age with Lori Andrews, and The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age with Suzanne Anker.
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Dorothy Nelkin served as an advisor to the United States government's Human Genome Project, among other policy boards and assessment panels internationally.
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Dorothy Nelkin was a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Public Understanding of Science.
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Dorothy Nelkin served on the Advisory Council for the National Center for Science Education, as well as on editorial boards for journals in sociology, science studies, law, history and public health.
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Dorothy Nelkin wrote Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy as a case study sponsored by the Cornell University's Program on Science, Technology and Society.
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In 1982, Dorothy Nelkin followed up with The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools.
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Dorothy Nelkin asserted that fundamentalists focus on education because it is one area where parents can "exert control over their lives and families".
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In Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, Dorothy Nelkin explored the cultural pressures which shape the reporting of science in the popular press.
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Dorothy Nelkin posited that scientists and journalists have differing agendas that cause a "distortion of scientific progress".
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Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information, a book Dorothy Nelkin co-wrote with Lawrence Tancredi, was critically viewed as provocative and explored issues with biomedicine, including the use and misuse of biological information.
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Dorothy Nelkin was born on July 30,1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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Dorothy Nelkin's mother was a homemaker and her father, Henry L Wolfers, founded Wolfers Lighting Company in Boston.
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Dorothy Nelkin was the first member of her family to attend college.
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Dorothy Nelkin was married to physicist Mark S Dorothy Nelkin, and they had a daughter, Lisa.