Michel Morange Knihy

In this masterful account, a historian of science surveys the molecular biology revolution and its lasting impact. Since the 1930s, a molecular vision has been transforming biology. The author provides an incisive history of this transformation, from early attempts to explain organisms through their chemical components to the birth and consolidation of genetics, and the latest technologies enabled by this new science of life. Revisiting previous analyses, the author offers fresh insights from the past two decades. The narrative reveals that the remarkable transformation of biology resulted not from a simple accumulation of new results, but from the molecularization of a significant portion of the field. The greatest biological achievements of recent decades remain rooted in the molecular paradigm. Rather than being displaced by other techniques, molecular biology has fused with genetics, physics, structural chemistry, and computational biology, leading to decisive changes. These include the discovery of regulatory RNAs, large-scale scientific initiatives like human genome sequencing, and the rise of synthetic biology, systems biology, and epigenetics. Original, persuasive, and expansive in scope, this work sets a new standard for understanding the ongoing molecular revolution.

"This book presents a complete, global history of the biological sciences from ancient times to today-introducing a long-term perspective to the history of biological thought, while showing its fractures and upheavals through the ages. The history of biology often neglects certain areas, such as ecology, ethology (the study of non-human animal behavior), and plant biology-areas which are covered in this work. The broad, global perspective offered here will allow the reader to better appreciate the nature of the interdisciplinary exchanges that have shaped the biological sciences, perhaps more than any other discipline. Much attention is also given to the contribution of technology, the role of experimentation, and, more generally, the social and technological environment within which scientific transformations develop"--

Every day it seems the media focus on yet another new development in biology--gene therapy, the human genome project, the creation of new varieties of animals and plants through genetic engineering. These possibilities have all emanated from molecular biology. A History of Molecular Biology is a complete but compact account for a general readership of the history of this revolution. Michel Morange, himself a molecular biologist, takes us from the turn-of-the-century convergence of