Article ID: CBB001024003

When Physics and Biology Meet: The Nanoscale Case (2011)

unapi

Bueno, Otávio (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 42
Pages: 180--189


Publication Date: 2011
Edition Details: Part of a special issue, “When Physics Meets Biology”
Language: English

As an illustration of the complexities involved in connecting physics and molecular biology at the nanoscale, in this paper I discuss two case studies from nanoscience. The first examines the use of a biological structure (DNA) to build nanostructures in a controlled way. The second discusses the attempt to build a single molecular wire, and then decide whether such a wire is indeed conducting. After presenting the central features of each case study, I examine the role played in them by microscopic imaging, the different styles of reasoning involved, and the various theoretical, methodological, and axiological differences. I conclude by arguing that, except for the probe microscopes that are used, there is very little in common between the two cases. At the nanoscale, physics and molecular biology seem to meet in a non-unified way.

...More
Included in

Article Poon, Wilson C. K. (2011) Interdisciplinary Reflections: The Case of Physics and Biology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (p. 115). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001024003/

Similar Citations

Book Michel Morange; (2020)
The Black Box of Biology: A History of the Molecular Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB035364586/)

Article Bruchez, Marcel; (Winter 2006)
Commercialization and Future Developments in Bionanotechnology (/isis/citation/CBB921561390/)

Article Mody, Cyrus C. M.; Lynch, Michael; (2010)
Test Objects and Other Epistemic Things: A History of a Nanoscale Object (/isis/citation/CBB001023006/)

Article Poon, Wilson C. K.; (2011)
Interdisciplinary Reflections: The Case of Physics and Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001023995/)

Book Mathias Grote; (2019)
Membranes to Molecular Machines: Active Matter and the Remaking of Life (/isis/citation/CBB578630199/)

Book Bernardino Fantini; Fabrizio Rufo; (2017)
Il codice della vita. Una storia della genetica tra scienza e bioetica (/isis/citation/CBB297801530/)

Book Olby, Robert; (2009)
Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets (/isis/citation/CBB001021210/)

Book Witkowski, Jan; (2005)
The Inside Story: DNA to RNA to Protein (/isis/citation/CBB000610125/)

Book Marcovich, Anne; Shinn, Terry; (2014)
Toward a New Dimension: Exploring the Nanoscale (/isis/citation/CBB001510103/)

Article Morange, Michel; (2008)
Fifty Years of Central Dogma (/isis/citation/CBB001034015/)

Article Hall, Kersten T.; (2011)
William Astbury and the Biological Significance of Nucleic Acids, 1938--1951 (/isis/citation/CBB001023996/)

Article Huxley, Hugh; (2003)
The Cavendish Laboratory and Structural Biology (/isis/citation/CBB000300391/)

Book Sophia Roosth; (2017)
Synthetic: How Life Got Made (/isis/citation/CBB671229087/)

Article Peretó, J.; Catalá-Gorgues, J. I.; (2007)
The Renaissance of Synthetic Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001023444/)

Authors & Contributors
Morange, Michel
Grote, Mathias
Fabrizio Rufo
Bruchez, Marcel
Camacho, M. Polo
Hall, Kersten T.
Concepts
Biology
Molecular biology
DNA; RNA
Physics
Synthetic biology; bioengineering
Genetics
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
Europe
Great Britain
Institutions
Cavendish Laboratory
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment