Work

“What Dr Venter did on his holidays”: exploration, hacking, entrepreneurship in the narratives of theSorcerer IIexpedition

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: The Sorcerer II is the highly mediatized and spectacular Venter Institute's ship that circumnavigated the planet between 2003 and 2006 to collect and classify marine microbial genomes. We analyze Craig Venter's public communication activities and strategies especially focusing on the images of science and scientist he proposes: that of an eighteenth-century “savant” and nineteenth-century naturalist devoted to the exploration of new worlds, and that of the hacker, hero of informational capitalism. Emphasizing his independence from both academy and industry, but building strong alliances with both spheres and with the media, Craig Venter sails the oceans of the contemporary biotechnologies' market, interpreting a specific typology of the relationship between science and society, enterprises, universities.

Source: New Genetics and Society

DOI: 10.1080/14636770903339050

Authors: Alessandro Delfanti, Yurij Castelfranchi, Nico Pitrelli

Institutions: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, University of Milan, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Language: English

Topic: History of Science and Medicine

Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $1,590

Funder: National Institutes of Health