6. The development of antibiotics (middle to late 1900's)

The discovery of specific and highly effective means of destroying deadly pathogens (disease-causing agents) saved countless numbers of human lives. Although this event has only minimal impact on the narrowly defined science of anthropology, it has had a profound influence on the human societies that anthropologists study.

 

Alan E. Mann is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His Top 10 list reviews the 1900's in a general historical light and shows how the major events affected the work and chief concerns of anthropologists. He generally calls attention to broad movements rather than single momentous events. He points to the rapid population growth during the 1900's and reveals why some anthropologists link this trend to the end of human evolution.

1.

The effects of World War II (1939-1945) on theories of race
2. Social change caused by World War I (1914-1918)
3. The increase in world population (throughout the 1900's)
4.

The development of genetics (mid-1900's)
5. Gaining understanding of the atomic structure of matter (middle to late 1900's)
6. The development of antibiotics (middle to late 1900's)
7. The impact of automobile and airplane travel (throughout the 1900's)
8. The rise of the computer-based Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
9. The development of effective and safe methods of birth control (mid-1900's)
10. Accepting the theory of continental drift (late 1900's)