The last century saw two great revolutions in genetics; the development
of classic Mendelian theory and the discovery and investigation of DNA.
Each fundamental scientific discovery in turn generated its own
distinctive technology. Biotechnology is the offspring of the latter and
is expected to be the driving force behind economic growth in the
twenty-first century. These two case studies enable the author to
conduct a philosophical exploration of the relationship between
fundamental scientific discoveries on the one hand, and the technologies
that spring from them on the other. As such it is also an exercise in
the philosophy of technology.