Vital Forces (eBook)

The Discovery of the Molecular Basis of Life

Graeme K. Hunter (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2000 | 1. Auflage
364 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-08-054363-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Vital Forces tells the history of the 'biochemical revolution', a period of unprecedentedly rapid advance in human knowledge that profoundly affected our view of life and laid the foundation for modern medicine and biotechnology. The story is told in a clear, engaging, and absorbing manner. This delightful work relates the fascinating and staggering advances in concepts and theories over the last 200 years and introduces the major figures of the times. Vital Forces also describes the discovery of the molecular basis of life through the stories of the scientists involved, including such towering figures as Louis Pasteur, Gregor Mendel, Linus Pauling, and Francis Crick. Combining science and biography into a seamless chronological narrative, the author brings to life the successes and failures, collaborations and feuds, and errors and insights that produced the revolution in biology. - Vividly describes dramatic scientific discoveries, personalities, feuds and rivalries - Answers a general readers quest to understand the nature of life, and the relevance of biochemistry/molecular biology to modern medicine, industry and agriculture

Graeme Hunter studied biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, graduating with the degree of Ph.D. in 1980. He carried out post-doctoral research at Stanford University and the University of Toronto. In 1988, Dr. Hunter became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Alberta. Since 1991, he has held the position of Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario.Dr. Hunter's current research interests are in the areas of biomineralizatin and the history and philosophy of biology.

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
VITAL FORCES: The Discovery of the Molecular Basis of Life 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 10
List of Plates 8
Preface 12
Acknowledgments 21
Chapter 1. The Revolution in Chemistry Has Come to Pass 22
Chapter 2. The Maze of Organic Chemistry 40
Chapter 3. A Singular Inward Laboratory 74
Chapter 4. The Catalytic Force 96
Chapter 5. Building Stones of Protoplasm 122
Chapter 6. The Chemical and Geometrical Phenomena of Heredity 144
Chapter 7. The Megachemistry of the Future 176
Chapter 8. The Giant Molecules of the Living Cell 214
Chapter 9. The Chemical Basis of Genetics 238
Chapter 10. The Hereditary Code-script 266
Chapter 11. The Ubiquitous Spiral 286
Chapter 12. Our Thread of Ariadne 308
Chapter 13. Nature is Blind and Reads Braille 336
References 366
Selected Readings in the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 372
Name Index 377
Subject Index 381

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.4.2000
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Biochemie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Genetik / Molekularbiologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Angewandte Physik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 0-08-054363-4 / 0080543634
• ISBN-13: 978-0-08-054363-5 / 9780080543635