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Article ID: CBB001024003

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

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

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Microscopes Physics Synthetic biology; bioengineering Nanotechnology Molecular biology Biology Nanoscience DNA; RNA 20th century, late 21st century

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.

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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

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