What is Life? The Next Fifty Years: Speculations on the Future of Biology

Erwin Schrödinger's book What is Life?, which was originally delivered as a set of lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, is perhaps one of the most important scientific books of the twentieth century. It marked the beginning of molecular biology, and stimulated scientists such as Watson and Crick to explore and discover the structure of DNA. The novelty and appeal of What is Life? is that Schrödinger addressed the central problems of biology--heredity and how organisms use energy to maintain...