Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology
E642066
Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology is an influential ethnographic and historical study by anthropologist Paul Rabinow that examines the development of the polymerase chain reaction technique and its broader implications for biotechnology and scientific practice.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7109761 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology Context triple: [Paul Rabinow, notableWork, Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology]
-
A.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back
From Bacteria to Bach and Back is a philosophical work by Daniel Dennett that explores how mind, consciousness, and culture could have evolved from simple biological beginnings through natural selection and cultural evolution.
-
B.
A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
"A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution" is a popular science book that explains the discovery, science, and ethical implications of CRISPR gene-editing technology for reshaping life and evolution.
-
C.
The Making of the Fittest
The Making of the Fittest is a popular science book by evolutionary biologist Sean B. Carroll that explains how DNA evidence reveals and supports the mechanisms of evolution.
-
D.
The Language of Life
The Language of Life is a popular science book by geneticist Francis Collins that explains how advances in genomics are transforming medicine and personal health.
-
E.
The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome
The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome is a non-fiction book by Nobel laureate John Sulston that recounts the scientific race to sequence the human genome and explores its political and ethical implications.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology Target entity description: Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology is an influential ethnographic and historical study by anthropologist Paul Rabinow that examines the development of the polymerase chain reaction technique and its broader implications for biotechnology and scientific practice.
-
A.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back
From Bacteria to Bach and Back is a philosophical work by Daniel Dennett that explores how mind, consciousness, and culture could have evolved from simple biological beginnings through natural selection and cultural evolution.
-
B.
A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
"A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution" is a popular science book that explains the discovery, science, and ethical implications of CRISPR gene-editing technology for reshaping life and evolution.
-
C.
The Making of the Fittest
The Making of the Fittest is a popular science book by evolutionary biologist Sean B. Carroll that explains how DNA evidence reveals and supports the mechanisms of evolution.
-
D.
The Language of Life
The Language of Life is a popular science book by geneticist Francis Collins that explains how advances in genomics are transforming medicine and personal health.
-
E.
The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome
The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome is a non-fiction book by Nobel laureate John Sulston that recounts the scientific race to sequence the human genome and explores its political and ethical implications.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (38)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
ethnographic study ⓘ historical study ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline |
anthropology
ⓘ
history of science ⓘ |
| author | Paul Rabinow NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| describes |
invention of PCR
ⓘ
organizational culture of biotech firms ⓘ patenting of PCR ⓘ |
| documents |
emergence of PCR as a standard technique
ⓘ
interplay of science, business, and law in biotechnology ⓘ |
| examines |
Cetus Corporation
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
commercialization of molecular biology ⓘ ethical dimensions of biotechnology ⓘ social context of scientific discovery ⓘ |
| field |
cultural anthropology
ⓘ
science and technology studies ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
biotechnology industry
ⓘ
development of PCR technique ⓘ intellectual property in biotechnology ⓘ laboratory life ⓘ relations between academia and industry ⓘ scientific innovation ⓘ |
| genre |
anthropology of science
ⓘ
history of science ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn |
biotechnology policy debates
ⓘ
history of molecular biology scholarship ⓘ studies of laboratory ethnography ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
anthropologists of science
ⓘ
historians of science ⓘ scholars of science and technology studies ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
biotechnology
ⓘ
polymerase chain reaction ⓘ scientific practice ⓘ |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| timePeriodCovered | late 20th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology Description of subject: Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology is an influential ethnographic and historical study by anthropologist Paul Rabinow that examines the development of the polymerase chain reaction technique and its broader implications for biotechnology and scientific practice.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.