This collection of essays looks at how human heredity was understood between 1900 and the late 1970s. Developments are explored across three themed sections: concepts, practices and institutions. The contributors explore the interaction of science, medicine and society in determining how heredity was viewed across the world during the politically turbulent years of the twentieth century.

Assessment of error and uncertainty is a vital component of both natural and social science. Empirical research involves dealing with all kinds of errors and uncertainties yet there is significant variance in how such results are dealt with. Contributors to this volume present case studies of research practices across a wide spectrum of scientific fields, including experimental physics, econometrics, environmental science, climate science, industrial engineering, measurement science and statistics. They compare methodologies and present the ingredients needed for an overarching framework applicable to all.

The essays in this collection examine women in diverse roles; mother, socialite, prostitute, celebrity, medical practitioner and patient. The wide range of commentators allows a diverse picture of women’s health in this period.

The work of Michel Foucault has been influential in the analysis of space in a variety of disciplines, most notably in geography and politics. This collection of essays is the first to focus on what Foucault termed ‘heterotopias’, spaces that exhibit multiple layers of meaning and reveal tensions within society.

Intersectionality, the attempt to bring theories on race, gender, disability and sexuality together, has existed for decades as a theoretical framework. The essays in this volume explore how intersectionality can be applied to modern philosophy, as well as looking at other disciplines.