Proof positive : finding the cause of AIDS
Name
316854421-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
2.58 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2361652b0996a226a54b9f69539f9126
Author(s)
Rulison, Megan R. (Megan Rebecca)
Advisor(s)
Marcia Bartusiak.
Alternative Title
Finding the cause of AIDS
Date Issued
2008
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In 2008, it will have been 25 years since HIV was first isolated from a patient with AIDS. In the early 1980s, when the mysterious disease of the immune system spread across the globe, scientists began a race to find the cause. Through the voices of the men and women involved, this thesis tracks the discovery of HIV from the early outbreak of a deadly epidemic to the design of therapies for a fully-defined disease. When the AIDS outbreak began, doctors and scientists had no idea what was making people sick, and the race to find a cause was a difficult and haphazard process. But it was also a successful one; scientists discovered a definite cause for the disease-the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. However, today there still remain AIDS denialists, people who do not believe HIV is the cause of AIDS. Their beliefs pose the question, why should we trust in science? This version of the history of HIV seeks to answer that question through a particular emphasis on achieving certainty in science, how the steps of the scientific process led to certainty that HIV is the cause of AIDS, through both experimental research and community acceptance.
Description
Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48).
Subjects
Graduate Program in Science Writing.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing
MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies
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copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
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