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Tytuł:
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Anticipatory measure: Alex Comfort, experimental gerontology and the measurement of senescence.
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Autorzy:
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Moreira T; Department of Sociology, Durham University, 32 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 £HN, UK. Electronic address: .
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Źródło:
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Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences [Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci] 2019 Oct; Vol. 77, pp. 101179. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Jun 25.
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Typ publikacji:
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Biography; Historical Article; Journal Article
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Język:
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English
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Imprint Name(s):
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Publication: <2005->: Amsterdam : Elsevier
Original Publication: Oxford [England] : Pergamon, c1998-c2020.
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MeSH Terms:
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Aging*
Geriatrics/*history
Geriatrics/methods ; History, 20th Century ; Humans
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Personal Name as Subject:
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Comfort A
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Entry Date(s):
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Date Created: 20190629 Date Completed: 20191210 Latest Revision: 20191217
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Update Code:
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20240104
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DOI:
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10.1016/j.shpsc.2019.101179
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PMID:
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31248807
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Ageing is routinely measured by counting the number of years lived since the birth of an individual but at least since at least the 1930s, the validity, precision and sensitivity of chronological age as a measure has been criticised across the biological and behavioural sciences of ageing. This quest that has been reinforced by the contemporary investment in the possibility of technologically manipulating the rate of ageing to delay the onset the age-associated diseases. This paper explores the epistemic, institutional and political conditions that led to the formulation, at the turhn of the 1970s, of Alex Comfort's (1920-2000) seminal proposal to measure human biological ageing rate. Drawing on published and archival sources, I argue that Comfort's suggested measure of ageing can be understood as a form of 'anticipation work', and should be understood as an effort to evidence, and to make present, the technological and social promises that Comfort linked to experimental gerontology.
(Crown Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
