Steven Rose Brought His Science and Socialism Together
Steven Rose, who died last month, was a major figure in the field of neuroscience and a brilliant scientific popularizer. Rose was also a committed socialist who challenged the misuse of science to legitimate racism, sexism, and class inequality.
Steven Rose was an internationally respected biologist with a prodigious research output. (Wikimedia Commons)
Major social upheavals are typically accompanied by similar upheavals in the dominant ideas in society. This is as true of science as of other ideological spheres.
The English Revolution of 1642–49, a key event in the transition from feudalism to capitalism, was followed by discoveries that included Robert Hooke’s observation of the first biological cell and Robert Boyle’s elucidation of the physical properties of gases. This moment of scientific progress culminated in Isaac Newton’s Principia, which revolutionized our understanding of planetary movements by introducing the laws of motion and universal gravitation.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the first attempt to construct a socialist society on a countrywide scale. It saw the emergence of exciting new ideas in scientific fields as diverse as genetics, ecology, and psychology, before the rise of Stalinism snuffed out these developments.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.