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.
Highlights
After the completion of his 1955 work on polaron physics (Feynman 1962), Feynman decided to spend his summer time at Caltech, making excursions into different fields ranging from engineering to biology
Molecular biology came into play as new research paradigm during the three decades ranging from 1930 to the late 1950s, characterized by a huge effort to understand the secret of life, whose main result was the discovery of the self-replicating mechanisms of DNA and the explanation of its working principle: the information coding
Among the institutions which received a large amount of grants for carrying out projects in molecular biology we find the University of Chicago and Caltech, considered by the Foundation as the most promising centers for developing the new cutting-edge research programs
Summary
Interesting is Feynman’s reasoning about it: “I am inspired by the biological phenomena in which chemical forces are used in a repetitious fashion to produce all kinds of weird effects” (Feynman 1960) Feynman spent his entire sabbatical year 1959-1960 at Caltech working on biology. We dwell just on Feynman’s incursions in the field of biology, by focusing on his work on genetics with Edgar as well as on his lectures at Hughes Company about biology, organic chemistry and microbiology This will be addressed, after a section devoted to a quick historical reconstruction about the birth of molecular biology, which was properly the field of interest of Feynman.
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