Abstract

Recent historiographies have put a focus on place and movement, with important implications for the history of scienceHistory of science and technology outside the traditional locus of Western Europe and the United States. In this chapter, I argue that some of the central problems and concepts advanced in Jean Gayon’s works, together with contributions in other areas of the history of scienceHistory of science, set the ground for a thorough critique of the diffusionist viewDiffusionist view of knowledge, famously associated with George BasallaBasalla, George. Though the themes and tools in contemporary history of scienceHistory of science are nowadays coming from afar the industrialized western countries, the movement of twentieth century life sciences into French traditions and institutions captured some of the same basic questions almost thirty years ago. In particular, Gayon contributed to our current narrative of how MendelismMendelism, and later the molecular approach to heredity, made their arrival to France to be accommodated within existing disciplinary fields, traditions, and institutions. In doing so, he and his colleagues introduced a perspective that challenged a merely “rationalist” or even a “spreading” view of the displacement of science, providing an analytical tool kit that emphasized the diversity and fruitfulness of local research traditions.