Jessica Martucci

Jessica Martucci earned her master’s degree in bioethics and her PhD in the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of numerous scholarly and popular works, including her book Back to the Breast: Natural Motherhood and Breastfeeding America (University of Chicago Press, 2015). She was the lead researcher behind the Science History Institute’s Science and Disability Project, which is part of her broader interest in understanding the mechanisms and effects of exclusion and inclusion in science, medicine, and public history.

Photo: Lesley Curtis

More from Jessica Martucci

Medicinal Leeches and Where to Find Them

The rise, fall, and resurrection of the humble leech.

Workers lined up for a group photo

Disability and the Myth of the Independent Scientist

Movies and television shows like to portray scientists as lone geniuses. But scientists with disabilities know the reality is much more complex.

black and white photo of pipes and fittings

Whose Knowledge Counts? Scientists with Cognitive Differences

Why emphasizing intellectual achievement and scientific “genius” harms scientists with intellectual disabilities—and the rest of us.

Through the Lens of Disability

What possibilities might we be ignoring when we unquestioningly privilege sight as the primary pathway to knowledge about the natural world?

Science and Disability

Scientists with disabilities have frequently faced intolerance and prejudice in their careers.