Genetic engineering draws its theory from the scientific field of genetics, which consists of three main branches: (a) Mendelian, classical, or transmission genetics, which is a study of the transmission of traits from one generation to the next; (b) molecular genetics, which is the study of the “chemical structure of genes and how they operate at the molecular level” and (c) population genetics, which addresses the ″variation of genes between and within populations″ (Weaver & Hedrick, 1992, p. 4). 21
Following A. Emerson Wiens we can further explore the nature of science technology relationship in the following manner :
″ Table 1. Timeline of the Science and Technology Events Leading to Genetic Engineering
Science |
Technology |
||||||
5,000 BC |
Making of beer in Babylon |
||||||
|
First compound microscope - Z. Janssen |
||||||
|
Two-lens eyepiece - C. Huygens |
||||||
1838 ---39 Living Tissue Composed Of cells Schleiden , Schwann |
|
||||||
1853 |
Dark-field microscope condenser-H. Wenham |
||||||
1859 On the Origin of the Species - C. Darwin |
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
More microscope improvements - Spencer. Tolles |
||||||
|
Improvementsin specimen preservation, staining |