The application of complementarity to biology: From Niels Bohr to Max Delbrück

Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 417-441

  Roll Hansen, Nils ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OSLO   (Norway)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HISTORY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; PHYSICS;

HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; PHYSICS;

EID: 0033660365     PISSN: 08909997     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/27757838     Document Type: Article

References (120)

1. For the myth that theoretical physics created molecular genetics, see Donald Fleming, "Emigré physicists and the biological revolution," Fleming and Bernard Bailyn, eds., Perspectives in American history, 2 (1968), 152-189.
2. Max Delbrück, Mind from matter? An essay on evolutionary epistemology, ed. G.S. Stent et al. (Oxford, 1986), 237.
3. Robert Olby, "Schrödinger's problem: What is life?" JHB, 4 (1971), 119-148; Robert Olby, The path to the double helix (London, 1974); Evelyn Fox Keller, "Physics and the emergence of molecular biology: A history of cognitive and political synergy," JHB, 23 (1990), 389-409.
4. Robert Olby, "Schrödinger's problem: What is life?" JHB, 4 (1971), 119-148; Robert Olby, The path to the double helix (London, 1974); Evelyn Fox Keller, "Physics and the emergence of molecular biology: A history of cognitive and political synergy," JHB, 23 (1990), 389-409.
5. Robert Olby, "Schrödinger's problem: What is life?" JHB, 4 (1971), 119-148; Robert Olby, The path to the double helix (London, 1974); Evelyn Fox Keller, "Physics and the emergence of molecular biology: A history of cognitive and political synergy," JHB, 23 (1990), 389-409.
6. Niels Bohr, "The quantum postulate and the recent development of atomic theory," in Bohr, Atomic theory and the description of nature (Cambridge, 1934), 52-91, on 53-54.
7. Ibid., 54.
8. Henry Folse, The philosophy of Niels Bohr. The framework of complementarity (Amsterdam, 1985); Dugald Murdoch, Niels Bohr's philosophy of physics (Cambridge, 1987); Jan Faye, Niels Bohr: His heritage and legacy. An anti-realist view of quantum mechanics (Dordrecht, 1991).
9. Henry Folse, The philosophy of Niels Bohr. The framework of complementarity (Amsterdam, 1985); Dugald Murdoch, Niels Bohr's philosophy of physics (Cambridge, 1987); Jan Faye, Niels Bohr: His heritage and legacy. An anti-realist view of quantum mechanics (Dordrecht, 1991).
10. Henry Folse, The philosophy of Niels Bohr. The framework of complementarity (Amsterdam, 1985); Dugald Murdoch, Niels Bohr's philosophy of physics (Cambridge, 1987); Jan Faye, Niels Bohr: His heritage and legacy. An anti-realist view of quantum mechanics (Dordrecht, 1991).
11. Murdoch (ibid.), 231-232.
12. The prevailing view is summed up by Jan Faye, "Once more: Bohr-Höffding," Danish yearbook of philosophy, 29 (1994), 106-113. Faye's emphasis on the importance of Höffding is opposed by David Favrholdt, who points to the influence of Niels Bohr's long time friend, Edgar Rubin, a professor of philosophy and then of psychology. Favrholdt, "General introduction," in Niels Bohr, Collected works, 10 (Amsterdam, 1999), xxiii-xlix, on xxvii-xxxii.
13. The prevailing view is summed up by Jan Faye, "Once more: Bohr-Höffding," Danish yearbook of philosophy, 29 (1994), 106-113. Faye's emphasis on the importance of Höffding is opposed by David Favrholdt, who points to the influence of Niels Bohr's long time friend, Edgar Rubin, a professor of philosophy and then of psychology. Favrholdt, "General introduction," in Niels Bohr, Collected works, 10 (Amsterdam, 1999), xxiii-xlix, on xxvii-xxxii.
14. Harald Høffding, Psykologi i omrids på grundlag af erfaringen (An outline of psychology on the basis of experience) (Copenhagen, 1882).
15. Nils Roll-Hansen, "Critical teleology: Immanuel Kant and Claude Bernard on the limitations of experimental biology," JHB, 9 (1976), 59-91.
16. Favrholdt, in Bohr (ref. 8), xxviii and 4-6. Christian Bohr and Haldane believed they could point quite precisely to the limit of mechanistic explanation in the uptake of oxygen in respiration. Nils Roll-Hansen, "E.S. Russell and J.H. Woodger - The failure of two 20th century opponents of mechanistic biology," JHB, 17 (1984), 399-428, on 407.
17. Francisco J. Ayala, "Introduction," in F.J. Ayala and T. Dobzhansky, eds., Studies in the philosophy of biology. Reduction and related problems (Berkeley, 1974), vii-xvi; Paul Hoynigen-Huene, "Niels Bohr's argument for the irreducibility of biology to physics," in J. Faye and H.J. Folse, eds., Niels Bohr and contemporary philosophy (Dordrecht, 1994), 231-255, on 238-239. Alexander Rosenberg's Instrumental biology or the disunity of science (Chicago, 1994) rests on an up to date version of this view.
18. Francisco J. Ayala, "Introduction," in F.J. Ayala and T. Dobzhansky, eds., Studies in the philosophy of biology. Reduction and related problems (Berkeley, 1974), vii-xvi; Paul Hoynigen-Huene, "Niels Bohr's argument for the irreducibility of biology to physics," in J. Faye and H.J. Folse, eds., Niels Bohr and contemporary philosophy (Dordrecht, 1994), 231-255, on 238-239. Alexander Rosenberg's Instrumental biology or the disunity of science (Chicago, 1994) rests on an up to date version of this view.
19. Francisco J. Ayala, "Introduction," in F.J. Ayala and T. Dobzhansky, eds., Studies in the philosophy of biology. Reduction and related problems (Berkeley, 1974), vii-xvi; Paul Hoynigen-Huene, "Niels Bohr's argument for the irreducibility of biology to physics," in J. Faye and H.J. Folse, eds., Niels Bohr and contemporary philosophy (Dordrecht, 1994), 231-255, on 238-239. Alexander Rosenberg's Instrumental biology or the disunity of science (Chicago, 1994) rests on an up to date version of this view.
20. Harald Høffding, "Om vitalisme" (On vital sm), in Høffding, Mindre arbejder (Minor works) (Copenhagen, 1899), 40-50.
21. Finn Aaserud, Redirecting science. Niels Bohr, philanthropy, and the rise of nuclear physics (Cambridge, 1990).
22. Niels Bohr, "The atomic theory and the fundamental principles underlying the description of nature," Bohr (ref. 4), 102-119, on 117-119.
23. Niels Bohr, "Addendum (1931)," in Bohr (ref. 4), 22-23.
24. Folse (ref. 6), 183-193.
25. Aaserud (ref. 14), 82-90.
26. Lily Kay, "Conceptual models and analytical tools: The biology of physicist Max Delbrück," JHB, 18 (1985), 207-246, on 214.
27. Niels Bohr, "Light and life," in Bohr, Atomic physics and human knowledge (New York, 1958), 3-12, on 7, reprinted as Bohr, Essays 1933-1957 on atomic physics and human knowledge (Woodbridge, CT, 1987).
28. Niels Bohr, "Light and life," in Bohr, Atomic physics and human knowledge (New York, 1958), 3-12, on 7, reprinted as Bohr, Essays 1933-1957 on atomic physics and human knowledge (Woodbridge, CT, 1987).
29. Ibid., 8-9.
30. Ibid., 10.
31. Ibid., 9.
32. Ibid., 11.
33. Cf. Folse, (ref. 6), 193. Folse points out that in Bohr's explication of biological complementarity the adequate mechanistic explanation of physiological processes presupposes a teleological frame of description.
34. Niels Bohr, "Unity of knowledge," in Bohr, Essays (ref. 20), 67-82, and "The connection between the sciences," in Bohr, Essays 1958-1962 on atomic physics and human knowledge (New York, 1963), 17-22.
35. Niels Bohr, "Unity of knowledge," in Bohr, Essays (ref. 20), 67-82, and "The connection between the sciences," in Bohr, Essays 1958-1962 on atomic physics and human knowledge (New York, 1963), 17-22.
36. Hoynigen-Huene (ref. 12), 237.
37. J.L. Heilbron, "The earliest missionaries of the Copenhagen spirit," Revue d' histoire des sciences, 38 (1985), 195-230, on 213.
38. Erwin Schrödinger, What is life? (Cambridge, 1944), 56-62.
39. N.W. Timoféeff-Ressovsky, K.G. Zimmer, and M. Delbrück, "Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur," Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Göttingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. Nachrichten aus der Biologie, 1 (1934-35), 189-245.
40. Letter from G.S. Stent to the author, 18 Dec 1994.
41. Walter Moore, Scrödinger, life and thought (Cambridge, 1989), 46-47.
42. Schrödinger (ref. 29), 2.
43. Ibid., 68-69.
44. Olby, "Schrödinger's problem" (ref. 3).
45. H.J. Muller to O.L. Mohr, 13 Apr 1933 (Institute for Medical Genetics, University of Oslo).
46. Elof A. Carlson, Genes, radiation, and society. The life and work of H.J. Muller (Ithaca, 1981), 188.
47. Herman J. Muller, "Physics in the attack on the fundamental problems of genetics," Scientifc monthly, 46 (1937), 210-214.
48. Kay (ref. 19) and "The secret of life: Niels Bohr's influence on the biology program of Max Delbrück," Rivista di storia delta scienza, 2 (1985), 487-510, "Quanta of life: Atomic physics and the reincarnation of phage," History and philosophy of the life sciences, 14 (1992), 3-21. E.P. Fischer and C. Lipson, Thinking about science. Max Delbrück and the origins of molecular biology (New York, 1988).
49. Kay (ref. 19) and "The secret of life: Niels Bohr's influence on the biology program of Max Delbrück," Rivista di storia delta scienza, 2 (1985), 487-510, "Quanta of life: Atomic physics and the reincarnation of phage," History and philosophy of the life sciences, 14 (1992), 3-21. E.P. Fischer and C. Lipson, Thinking about science. Max Delbrück and the origins of molecular biology (New York, 1988).
50. Kay (ref. 19) and "The secret of life: Niels Bohr's influence on the biology program of Max Delbrück," Rivista di storia delta scienza, 2 (1985), 487-510, "Quanta of life: Atomic physics and the reincarnation of phage," History and philosophy of the life sciences, 14 (1992), 3-21. E.P. Fischer and C. Lipson, Thinking about science. Max Delbrück and the origins of molecular biology (New York, 1988).
51. W. Stanley, "Isolation of a crystalline protein possessing the properties of tobacco-mosaic virus," Science, 81 (1935), 644.
52. Max Delbrück, "A physicist's renewed look at biology: Twenty years later," Science, 168 (1910), 1312-1315, on 1314-1315.
53. Ibid., 1315.
54. J. Cairns, G.S. Stent, and J.D. Watson, eds., Phage and the origins of molecular biology (Cold Spring Harbor, 1966).
55. "Introduction: Waiting for the paradox," is the title of Stent's suggestive introductory essay, in ibid., 3-8.
56. Max Delbrück, Problems of modern biology in relation to atomic physics. A series of lectures given at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine April and May 1944 (Nashville, 1946) corrected copy in Delbrück papers, Caltech Archive, Pasadena.
57. Max Delbrück, "A physicist looks at biology," Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Transactions, 38 (Dec. 1949), 173-190, reprinted in Cairns (ref. 43), 9-22, page references to the latter publication.
58. Ibid., 9.
59. Ibid., 13
60. Ibid., 17.
61. Nils Roll-Hansen, "The genotype theory of Wilhelm Johannsen and its relation to plant breeding and the study of evolution," Cantaurus, 22 (1978), 201-235.
62. Delbrück (ref. 46), 16. Stent's claim that Delbrück discarded "all versions of realism" is thus hardly tenable, G.S. Stent, "Introduction and overview," in Delbrück (ref. 2), 14. No doubt Delbrück, like Bohr, often made statements with apparently strong antirealist content. But his statements with realist tendency cannot be ignored.
63. Delbrück (ref. 46), 18.
64. Ibid., 20.
65. Delbrück (ref. 45), 8-9.
66. Luria to Delbrück, 16 Nov 1949, Caltech Archives, Pasadena.
67. Delbrück (ref. 46), 22.
68. Quoted from Fischer and Lipson, 1981, 220.
69. Delbrück to Bohr, 14 Apr 1953, BAC. Crick and Watson's first paper on the structure of DNA appeared in Nature on 25 Apr.
70. Delbrück to Watson, 14 Apr 1953, Caltech Archives, Pasadena.
71. Niels Bohr, "Light and life revisited," in Bohr (ref. 26), 27.
72. Bohr to Pauli, 31 Dec 1953, BAC (author's translation).
73. Pauli to Delbrück, 16 Feb 1954, BAC.
74. Pauli to Bohr, 19 Feb 1954, BAC.
75. Delbrück to Bohr, 17 Feb 1954, BAC.
76. Bohr to Pauli, 3 Mar 1954, BAC (author's translation).
77. Bohr to Pauli, 6 Apr 1954, BAC (author's translation).
78. Bohr, "Unity" (ref. 26), 78.
79. Delbrück to Bohr, 1 Dec 1954, BAC.
80. Pauli to Bohr, 15 Feb 1955, BAC.
81. Bohr, "Unity" (ref. 26), 74.
82. Pauli to Bohr, 15 Feb 1955, BAC.
83. Bohr to Pauli, 2 Mar 1955, BAC.
84. Pauli to Bohr, 11 Mar 1955, BAC.
85. Bohr to Pauli, 25 Mar 1955, BAC.
86. Ref. 72.
87. Ref. 73.
88. Ref. 72.
89. Ref. 73.
90. For more detail, see Fischer and Lipson (ref. 39).
91. Max Delbrück, "Light and life, III," Carlsberg research communications, 41 (1976), 299-309, on 300.
92. Fischer and Lipson (ref. 39), 217.
93. Ibid., 234. The recipient of the letter was Seymour Benzer.
94. Delbrück to Bohr, 1 Dec 1954, BAC.
95. F.O. Schmitt to Delbrück, 6 Nov 1957, Caltech Archive, Pasadena.
96. Max Delbrück, "Atomic physics in 1910 and molecular biology in 1957," 6-7. Unpublished manuscript based on lecture at MIT in November 1957, Caltech Archive, Pasadena.
97. Ibid., 9.
98. Ibid., 19.
99. Ibid., 20-21.
100. Delbrück to Bohr, 23 Dec 1957, Caltech Archive, Pasadena.
101. Ibid., 20.
102. Fischer and Lipson (ref. 39), 220.
103. Bohr, "Connection" (ref. 26), 17-22, on 21.
104. Niels Bohr, "Light and life revisited," in Bohr, Essays (ref. 26), 23-29.
105. Ibid., 26.
106. Max Delbrück, "Biophysics," Commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Niels Bohr's first papers on atomic constitution held in Copenhagen on 8-15 July 1963 (Copenhagen), 41-67, on 60-61.
107. Ibid., 64-67.
108. Max Delbrück, "Mind from matter?," American scholar, 17 (1978), 339-353.
109. Max Delbrück, Mind from matter? An essay on evolutionary epistemology, ed. Gunther S. Stent et al. (Oxford, 1986), 270.
110. Ibid., 244, 249.
111. Correspondence between Delbrück and Bohr, 30 June to 19 Nov 1959, BAC.
112. John Dupré, The disorder of things. Metaphysical foundations of the disunity of science (Cambridge, 1993).
113. Olby (ref. 3), 247.
114. Fischer and Lipson (ref. 39), 84.
115. Max Delbrück, "Bacterial viruses (Bacteriophages)," Advances in enzymology, 2 (1942), 1-32.
116. Delbrück (ref. 45), 88.
117. Delbrück (ref. 46), 22.
118. Delbrück (ref. 85), 8.
119. T.S. Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions (Chicago, 1962), on 170-172.
120. Imre Lakatos, "Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes," in Lakatos, ed., Criticism and the growth of knowledge (Cambridge, 1970), 91-196.