Migration of Physical Scientists to Molecular Biology and Its Impact

Abstract

The phenomenon of migration of physical scientists to modern biology is examined. The role of the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1930s in encouraging application of physicochemical techniques to experimental biology is emphasized. This apart, other factors which have been posited for such migration include the brilliant organisation of the phage group led by Delbrück; Schrödinger's book What Is Life?; a sense of revulsion resulting from the use of nuclear weapons; the move away from vitalism and neo-vitalism; the need for quantification in biology and a departure from the traditional descriptive approach of biologists; the phenomenal rise of the application of physical techniques to molecular biology and the highly lucrative but speculative field of biotechnology, and influences of other scientists. Interviews over the last few years with some of the world's leading biologists and others who made the transition clearly indicate that there are other reasons for such a move. Among these reasons are their ability to be more analytical; the slow pace of theoretical physics at the time; the feeling that physics is getting too complicated, often involving many people and massively expensive instruments, where an individual's role is not clearly seen, whereas problems in biology are seen as simple and highly challenging; physicists' ability to link together diverse systems and find a unifying theme; and also a sincere belief that biotechnology can mitigate problems such as disease, pollution and hunger. The attitude of the scientists to their work in biology is also discussed, together with how physical scientists will affect molecular biology in the years to come.