Abstract
TheThe almost complete omission of cell biology from the history of modern biology is perplexing. For instance, Allen published his well-regarded Life Science in the Twentieth Century in 1975, the year after the founders of modern cell biology won the Nobel Prize, yet his book does not mention cell biology [1]. Judson's massive hagiography The Eighth Day of Creation (1979), which tracks the development of molecular biology, also leaves out cell biology, referring to George Palade, one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize, on only three pages [2]. Hopefully, with the appearance of Entering an Unseen World [3], reviewed here, a more accurate historical balance will begin to be restored.
Highlights
Why has cell biology been almost ignored? One possible reason might be that the gene-centric view of biology, which arose after the rediscovery of Mendel at the beginning of the twentieth century and reached its apotheosis with elucidation of the DNA structure in 1953, crowded out other perspectives
In addition to the molecular biology media fest, another factor contributing to the low profile of cell biology in the history of twentieth century science may be the paucity of scholarship focused on its origins
Bechtel’s excellent Discovering Cell Mechanisms—relating cell biology’s development until 1970—is a notable exception, as is Rasmussen’s Picture Control, an account of electron microscopy applied to biology [8,9]
Summary
Why has cell biology been almost ignored? One possible reason might be that the gene-centric view of biology, which arose after the rediscovery of Mendel at the beginning of the twentieth century and reached its apotheosis with elucidation of the DNA structure in 1953, crowded out other perspectives. Focusing on the years from 1910 to 1974, Moberg’s book maps the origins of modern cell biology as it developed at the Rockefeller Institute (later University) in New York City. Moberg’s chapters, which focus on the early period between 1910 and 1949, relate how Peyton Rous’ work on a chicken sarcoma led to the establishment of a cancer research laboratory headed by James Murphy.
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