Biopolitical Times Mourns the Passing of Charles Weiner
Posted by February 7, 2012
Biopolitical Times
We regret to share the very sad news that Charles Weiner, an eminent scholar of the history of science and technology at MIT as well as a friend of the Center for Genetics and Society, passed away January 28. Charlie devoted his scholarly career to the politics and history of nuclear and genetic science. MIT’s obituary of Charlie calls him “the pre-eminent historian of his generation focusing on the political, social and ethical dimensions of contemporary science and the responses of scientists to public controversies arising from their work.”
Among his many accomplishments, Charlie wrote four books:
As a scholar, a teacher, and a friend, Charlie will be missed.
Among his many accomplishments, Charlie wrote four books:
- Exploring the History of Nuclear Physics
- History of Twentieth Century Physics
- The Legacy of George Ellery Hale (with Helen Wright and Joan Warnow)
- Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections (with Alice Kimball Smith).
archival and oral history materials to document scientists' complicity in and resistance to nuclear and biological weapons, their connections with citizens' groups affected by environmental toxins and by fallout from nuclear testing, and anticipatory concerns about ethical limits to human genetic manipulation.Charlie's son-in-law Scott Underwood has written a wonderful remembrance of Charlie as a person; an activist; a jazz, folk and food aficionado; and a punster. Scott invites personal remembrances of Charlie in the comments of his blog, and says, “They mean a lot to his family, and help reveal a side of Charlie we didn't know directly. It is quite moving to hear the impact he had on others.”
As a scholar, a teacher, and a friend, Charlie will be missed.