Oct. 7th Commemoration & AJP Webinar: Twins and Other Extraordinary Kinships: The Science and the Fascination

Twins have a universal fascination for both scientific professionals and members of the general public. Why this is the case has been a matter of some debate, but several explanations will be suggested. Next, an overview of twin types (identical and fraternal) and the fascinating variations displayed by each type are described and illustrated (e.g., twins reared apart, biracial twins, twins with different fathers) with compelling data and case studies. Some curious, twin-like twosomes are also included, given that they are scientifically informative, as well as fascinating (virtual twins, unrelated look-alikes, switched at birth pairs). Twin research continues to grow and flourish as more twins are being born and researchers representing diverse disciplines, such as politics, religious studies, and economics, are embracing a twin-based approach to better understand their observations. Dr. Segal’s recent books (Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart, 2012; The Twin Children of the Holocaust: Stolen Childhood and the Will to Survive, 2023; and Gay Fathers, Twin Sons: The Citizenship Case That Captured the World, 2023) will be discussed.

Dr. Nancy L. Segal is a Psychology Professor and Director of the Twin Studies Center, California State University, Fullerton. She received a B.A. degree from Boston University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. She has authored over 300 scholarly articles and nine books and is currently working on her tenth. Her 2012 book, Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study, won the American Psychological Association’s William James Book Award from Division 1. Her 2021 book, Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart, was the focus of a July 2022 BBC documentary film. Dr Segal’s work has been featured in the New York Times and Atlantic Monthly. She has appeared on national and international television and radio programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN, and NPR. A recent book, The Twin Children of the Holocaust: Stolen Childhood and the Will to Survive, is an annotated collection of Dr. Segal’s photographs from the twins’ 40^th anniversary reunion at Auschwitz-Birkenau, published in 2023. Her latest work, Gay Fathers, Twin Sons: The Citizenship Case That Captured the World, was released in August 2023. This book chronicles a same-sex couple’s high-profile lawsuit against the U.S. State Department to secure U.S. citizenship for one of their twins for whom this status was denied. Both books were featured in 2023 and 2024 as part of C-SPAN’s book program. She is currently working on a tenth book about twin relationships and their implications for nontwins.

Dr. Segal serves as a consultant to the twin research panel in Brazil, at the University of São Paulo. She has been a member of the International Society for Twin Studies for a number of years and is a contributing editor for their journal, Twin Research and Human Genetics. She was the 2005 recipient of the James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research, from the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies. She appears in a newly released documentary film, The Accidental Twins, about doubly switched-at-birth identical Colombian twins. Her 2018 book, Accidental Brothers, was a comprehensive biographical and psychological study of these pairs.

Additional information about Dr. Segal is available at her website: drnancysegaltwins.org