White supremacist statues must fall. Even when they are of famous scientists | Yarden Katz

There is no such thing as apolitical science, as a row over the ‘father of gynaecology’, who experimented on slaves, reminds usScience ’s most elite magazine, Nature, published an editorial recently arguing that calling for monuments to figures such as J Marion Sims – often called the “father of gynaecology” – to be removed amounts to “whitewashing” history. Sims is widely praised for developing techniques in gynaecol ogical surgery and founding a women’s hospital in New York in the mid-1800s. But Sims experimented on enslaved black women and infants, operating up to 30 times on one woman to perfect his method. Last month, women wearing bloodied hospital gowns staged a protest by Sims’s statue outside the New York Academy of Medicine.Related:A battle with prejudice: why we overlook the warrior women of ancient times | Natalie HaynesContinue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - September 19, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Yarden Katz Tags: Science Biology Race issues Biography Media US news World news UK news Source Type: news