Landmark Experiments in Molecular Biology

by Michael Fry

Overview

Landmark Experiments in Molecular Biology critically considers breakthrough experiments that have constituted major turning points in the birth and evolution of molecular biology. These experiments laid the foundations to molecular biology by uncovering the major players in the machinery of inheritance and biological information handling such as DNA, RNA, ribosomes, and proteins. Landmark Experiments in Molecular Biology combines an historical survey of the development of ideas, theories, and profiles of leading scientists with detailed scientific and technical analysis. - Includes detailed analysis of classically designed and executed experiments - Incorporates technical and scientific analysis along with historical background for a robust understanding of molecular biology discoveries - Provides critical analysis of the history of molecular biology to inform the future of scientific discovery - Examines the machinery of inheritance and biological information handling

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780128021088
Publisher:	Elsevier Science & Technology Books
Publication date:	06/10/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	570
File size:	19 MB
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About the Author

Department of Biochemistry, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, POB 9649, Bat Galim, Haifa, 31096, Israel

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: IntroductionCHAPTER 2: Prehistory of Molecular Biology: 1847-1944CHAPTER 3: Avery Identifies DNA as the Genetic MaterialCHAPTER 4: Hershey and Chase Clinch the Role of DNA as the Genetic MaterialCHAPTER 5: Watson and Crick Solve the Structure of DNACHAPTER 6: Meselson and Stahl Demonstrate that DNA is Replicated SemiconservativelyCHAPTER 7: Defining the Genetic CodeCHAPTER 8: The Adaptor Hypothesis and the Isolation of transfer RNACHAPTER 9: The Discovery and Rediscovery of messenger RNACHAPTER 10: Deciphering the Genetic CodeCHAPTER 11: The Surprising Discovery of Split Genes and RNA SplicingChapter 12: Epilogue, Theory-driven versus experiment-directed discoveries in molecular biology

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A critical examination of the historic groundbreaking experiments that constituted major turning points in the birth and evolution of molecular biology, this comprehensive book surveys the development of ideas, theories, and profiles of leading scientists and includes detailed scientific and technical analysis

Editorial Reviews

"The title of the book perfectly summarizes Michael Fry’s aim: to present in a simple educational way the most beautiful and significant experiments in the history of molecular biology. The most significant contribution of this publication is probably the beautiful and precise experimental illustrations that have been specially drawn to accompany an equally precise and complete description of the experiments described in the book. Michael Fry has also added a long list of references, to the original articles, to the comments made by the scientists involved, and to the work of historians. This book will be useful, but the historian will not be wholly happy with it. What is missing.... in the book in general, is a meta—level of interpretation not limited to that of the participants, a meta—level mixing analysis of the context, philosophical issues not limited to the too general debate on the opposition between theory and experiment, and a precise study of the dynamics of the events that led to the discovery. Maybe Michael Fry was too modest and too admiring of the work that was accomplished to do what a historian would expect: resurrect the context that even the participants have often forgotten and sometimes never clearly distinguished, to show how tortuous the pathway of discovery was, how the ideas that led to the truth were often wrong. This ‘unvarnished’ history, leaving as much space to mistakes as to successes, is the only one that can be truly useful to future scientists." — Professor Michel Morange, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

From the Publisher