Vital Forces
The Discovery of the Molecular Basis of Life
- 1st Edition - November 3, 2000
- Latest edition
- Author: Graeme K. Hunter
- Language: English
Combining science and biography into a seamless chronological narrative, the author of Vital Forces brings to life the successes and failures, collaborations and feuds, and errors… Read more
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Combining science and biography into a seamless chronological narrative, the author of Vital Forces brings to life the successes and failures, collaborations and feuds, and errors and insights that produced the revolution in biology. 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.
- 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
Molecular biologists, protein chemists, biochemists, chemists and physicists, life scientists and all those with an interest in the history and development of the field
List of Plates.
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
The Revolution in Chemistry Has Come to Pass.
The Maze of Organic Chemistry.
A Singular Inward Laboratory.
The Catalytic Force.
Building Stones of Protoplasm.
The Chemical and Geometrical Phenomena of Heredity.
The Megachemisry of the Future.
The Giant Molecules of the Living Cell.
The Chemical Basis of Genetics.
The Heredity Code-script.
The Ubiquitous Spiral.
Our Thread of Ariadne.
Nature is Blind and Reads Braille.
References.
Selected Readings in the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Name Index.
Subject Index.
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
The Revolution in Chemistry Has Come to Pass.
The Maze of Organic Chemistry.
A Singular Inward Laboratory.
The Catalytic Force.
Building Stones of Protoplasm.
The Chemical and Geometrical Phenomena of Heredity.
The Megachemisry of the Future.
The Giant Molecules of the Living Cell.
The Chemical Basis of Genetics.
The Heredity Code-script.
The Ubiquitous Spiral.
Our Thread of Ariadne.
Nature is Blind and Reads Braille.
References.
Selected Readings in the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Name Index.
Subject Index.
"Hunter has managed to present a complex, multidimensional ensemble of discoveries in diverse biological specialties extending over two centuries as a coherent, linear, unidimensional story. As far as I know, no comparably intelligent and comprehensive account of the "Biochemical Revolution"is available."—Gunther S. Stent, Dept of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley, in BIOESSAYS (September 2001)
"Well documented with many personal vignettes, this is an engaging and intelligent book. The author is to be commended for capturing the sense of intellectual development as well as the excitement of discovery."—Eugene A. Davidson, Georgetown University School of Medicine, in DOODY'S HEALTH SCIENCES BOOK REVIEW JOURNAL (2001)
"This [book] should be required reading for students in this area and can surely be of value to even the most experienced investigator. Well documented with many personal vignettes, this is an engaging and intelligent book."—CHOICE
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: November 3, 2000
- Language: English
GH
Graeme K. Hunter
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.
Affiliations and expertise
Stanford University, Department of Biological Sciences, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.