Talks and shows

Making babies: The complex science of fertility

Donna J Drucker guides us through the complex landscape of fertility technology, and how it impacts the world around us.

Book cover

Fertility affects all of our lives, and the technology supporting it remains a contentious topic since the first recorded instance of artificial insemination back in the 1850s.

Join Donna J Drucker as she explores the history of this field, discussing how it has developed and evolved over time. Discover the five main types of fertility technology and understand each of their practical applications, as well as their ethical and social implications around the world today. With a focus on countries where these technologies have had the most profound impact, Donna provides a comprehensive overview of the field and its role in shaping our ideas of human life, kinship, and family.

Copies of Donna's latest book, 'Fertility Technology (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)', can be purchased via Amazon and all good book shops.

Event type

This is a livestream event where the speaker and audience come together online. 

You will have priority access to the recorded video for two weeks after the event has taken place.

For more information on livestreams, see the information below, or visit our FAQs page. Please use the event link you have been provided with.  

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Donna J Drucker

Donna Ducker
Donna Drucker

Donna J Drucker is Assistant Director of Scholarship and Research Development at the Columbia University School of Nursing. She is an historian of the intersection of science and technology with gender and sexuality, particularly in the 20th-century United States and Western Europe. Donna's book 'The Classification of Sex' about the intellectual history of Alfred Kinsey, won the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality's 2015 Bullough Prize for the most distinguished book written for the professional sexological community. Donna guest edited a special issue of ICON on the history of the body and technology, and is a regular guest on sexuality and gender history podcasts. She is also the author of 'Contraception: A Concise History' and 'The Machines of Sex Research: Technology and the Politics of Identity, 1945–1985'.

Timing for the livestream

The livestream will go live at 6.55pm and the introduction will begin at 7.00pm. If you register but miss the livestream, the video will be available to you via the same link for two weeks after the event date.

Event terms and conditions

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