{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,4]],"date-time":"2026-07-04T12:04:05Z","timestamp":1783166645856,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":81,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2003,4,1]],"date-time":"2003-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1049155200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Soc Stud Sci"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2003,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper, I discuss the many contributions of a versatile black technician, Vivien Thomas, to surgical animal research between 1930 and 1979 at Vanderbilt University and Johns Hopkins University. Thomas' experimental work led to a surgical solution for a life-threatening heart defect, called tetralogy of Fallot. Children with this condition lack sufficient oxygenation and were referred to as `blue babies'. Following Thomas' research trajectory and his relationship with surgeon Dr Alfred Blalock, I review the conditions under which differing expectations towards race and occupation clashed, creating a status dilemma for Thomas. While the torsion originated in the laboratory where technical skills are valued, the research locale also facilitated a temporary, fragile solution for the status dilemma, because it separated Thomas from public view. Yet, Thomas' dexterity as a laboratory researcher enhanced his dilemma, because credit kept eluding him. In order to track the dynamics of race and occupational subordination as lived experience in the laboratory, I argue for an analysis of the process of crediting people for their scientific accomplishments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/03063127030332014","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2003,8,8]],"date-time":"2003-08-08T23:46:59Z","timestamp":1060386419000},"page":"197-229","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":50,"title":["A Black Technician and Blue Babies"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Stefan","family":"Timmermans","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"sociology at Brandeis University,"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2003,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","unstructured":"Abir-Am & Outram (1987) Pnina Abir-Am and Dorinda Outram (eds), Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science 1789-1989 ( New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press )."},{"key":"atypb2","unstructured":"Beardsley (1987) Edward H. 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