A History of Molecular Biology - Tapa blanda

The book is fascinating and compelling. Moreover, the style of the writing gives no hint that the English version is a translation. The book is clearly written by someone intimately acquainted with the science of molecular biology and the personalities involved...Morange concludes his Introduction with the words "Whatever the value of the interpretations put forward here, this book and the historical information it contains will enable others to take us further in the understanding of the molecular revolution in biology." I wholeheartedly agree: the book is indeed a work of scholarship, which, in addition to outlining the history of an exciting period in the development of biology, includes much thought provoking comment.--K. Manchester "Endeavor "

This text is a complete but compact account for a general readership of the history of the revolution within molecular biology. The author takes us from the beginning of the 20th century convergence of molecular biology's two progenitors, genetics and biochemistry, to the perfection of gene slicing and cloning techniques in the 1980s. Drawing on the work of American, English, and French historians of science, Michel Morange describes the major discoveries - the double helix, messenger RNA, oncogenes, DNA polymerase - but also explains how and why these breakthroughs took place. The text contains mini-biographies of the founders of molecular biology: Delbruck, Watson and Crick, Monod and Jacob and Nirenberg.