English

When physics meets biology: a less known Feynman

History and Philosophy of Physics 2018-05-11 v1 Biological Physics Popular Physics Other Quantitative Biology

Abstract

We discuss a less known aspect of Feynman's multifaceted scientific work, centered about his interest in molecular biology, which came out around 1959 and lasted for several years. After a quick historical reconstruction about the birth of molecular biology, we focus on Feynman's work on genetics with Robert S. Edgar in the laboratory of Max Delbruck, which was later quoted by Francis Crick and others in relevant papers, as well as in Feynman's lectures given at the Hughes Aircraft Company on biology, organic chemistry and microbiology, whose notes taken by the attendee John Neer are available. An intriguing perspective comes out about one of the most interesting scientists of the XX century.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.03854,
  title  = {When physics meets biology: a less known Feynman},
  author = {Marco Di Mauro and Salvatore Esposito and Adele Naddeo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.03854},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

On the centenary of the birth of Richard P. Feynman (May 11, 1918 - February 15, 1988)

R2 v1 2026-06-23T01:50:41.229Z