ISBN: 9780300076080

As a result, there is more breadth than depth. The books most valuable feature may be the bibliography, which runs over 180 pages. Thousands of scientists, in both academia and industry, … More...

As a result, there is more breadth than depth. The books most valuable feature may be the bibliography, which runs over 180 pages. Thousands of scientists, in both academia and industry, are working in this area. Product DescriptIn this sweeping account of the emergence of biochery and molecular biology from the interplay between chery and biology, scientist-historian Joseph S. Fruton ranges from antiquity to the present time. He examines the institutal settings of the two disciplines and discusses their impact on , pharutical, and agricultural practice.From Library JournalFruton, a bioche turned historian, has revised and updated ports of his previous book, Molecules and Life: Historical Essays on the Interplay of Chery and Biology (1972). Using contemporary scientific writings, he traces the historical developments leading to the emergence of biochery and molecular biology as a discipline, primarily after 1800. Not intended as a comprehensive history, the text focuses on the study of proteins, enzymes, and nucleic s, which is still a pretty broad topic. As a result, there is more breadth than depth. Somehow, Fruton loses the flow of writing he had in Molecules and Life. He does not follow any chronological sequence and jumps from topic to topic so much that the text is sometimes difficult to follow. The books most valuable feature may be the bibliography, which runs over 180 pages. Recommended for graduate-level biochery collects.ATeresa Berry, Univ. of Tennessee Lib., KnoxvilleCopyright 1999 Reed Business Informat, Inc.From The New England Journal of MedicineResearch in biochery and molecular biology is proceeding at a furious pace. Thousands of scientists, in both academia and industry, are working in this area. The literature has become unmanageable; the Journal of Biological Chery, once a modest-sized monthly, is now a weekly the size of a small telephone book. How did all this frenetic activity begin? The tale is told by Joseph Fruton, historian of science and former head of the department of biochery at Yale University, in Proteins, Enzymes, Genes. The book begins with three background chapters, the first dealing with approaches to the history of science, the next with the institutal settings in which and biologic sciences developed, and the third a philosophical chapter in which Fruton discusses the current sociological deconstruct of science -- the claim that scientific data are relative to the societies in which they are obtained rather than objectively true. These are followed by a chapter on ways in which studies of fermentat chery led to the discovery of enzymes and five chapters on the history of proteins, oxidat and energy product, intermediary metabolism, DNA and heredity, and bio regulat. In each of these five chapters the author shows how the biology arises from the pertinent chery -- for example, how the chery of the amino s ultimately revealed the structure of proteins, and how the double helix of DNA is dictated by the structures of the ps and pyrimidines. In writing this book, Fruton displays formidable erudit and outstanding judgment in selecting what to include and what to leave out. I am personally acquainted with about 40 years worth of the work described in this book, and as far as I can tell, the author has left out few of the high points. Furthermore, the book is supplemented with a 182-page bibliography and an index of the nearly 2000 scientists who are referred to in the book. Included in the book are such recondite facts as the original use of the word enzyme, which was employed in medieval times to describe a Eucharist made with yeast, as opposed to the yeast-free azyme Eucharist, and the e of Eduard Buchner, who described one of the first cell-free fermentat systems (a yeast preparat that manufactured ethanol and carbon dioxide from sugar) and who died in World I while serving in the German army. Here and there, aspects of the personalities of some of the most prominent scientists are described: for instance, Otto burg, who had, Gut, Festpreisangebot, [LT: FixedPrice], Edition Description: 1, Binding: Hardcover, Publication Date: 11-05-1999, Sprache: English, Publication Year: 11-05-1999, Country of Origin: USA, United States, Manufacturer/Packer/Importer Details: ERGODE, Net Quantity/Number of Units: 1, Dimensions (LxWxH) - Inches: 1.93X10.35X7.41, ISBN-10: 0300076088, ISBN-13: 9780300076080, SKU: SONG0300076088, Buchtitel: Proteins, Enzymes, Genes: The Interplay of Chemistry and Biology, Yale University Press<