Physics of biological systems. From molecules to species
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Physics of biological systems. From molecules to species
zbMATH Open document ID: 0862.92001
published in: Lecture Notes in Physics
publication date: 1997-03-18T00:00:00Z
review text: This book is the published record of a combined summer school and workshop held at the Krogerup Højskole in Denmark during the summer of 1995. It is intended to introduce biological physics (biophysics) to first-year physics graduate students and physics researchers who have no prior knowledge of the field. It is simultaneously intended to do the same for students and researchers in biology who have no special background in physics but who have some grasp of mathematics and computing. These goals are only partially met because the biological background which is supplied is, in many instances, insufficient for physicists who are unacquainted with biology and because mathematical results are too often presented without derivations or detailed explanations of their source. The topics examined include replacement of gels by microchips in DNA electrophoresis, protein folding and motion, motor proteins, structure of membrane bilayers, vesicle and cell shapes, microtubule dynamics, an introduction to brains and neurons, statistical mechanics of sensory signal processing, and micro- and macro-scale evolution. Each of the 15 chapters in the book, written by different authors, is a completely independent tutorial on one of these subjects. The book as a whole illustrates the well-known fact that biophysics, unlike physics, chemistry, or biology, is not a single coherent field which can be broadly defined in a few sentences. Biophysics is what results when a physicist studies an area of biology to which the methods of physics can be applied. This accounts for the tremendous range of unrelated topics, from DNA to evolution, which appear in the book. Which of them will appeal to the reader will depend on his or her individual interests.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92C05
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92C40
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92-06
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 00B15
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92D15
zbMATH DE Number: 992894
zbMATH Keywords: Physics
zbMATH Keywords: Biological systems
zbMATH Keywords: replacement of gels
zbMATH Keywords: DNA electrophoresis
zbMATH Keywords: protein folding
zbMATH Keywords: motor proteins
zbMATH Keywords: structure of membrane bilayers
zbMATH Keywords: microtubule dynamics
zbMATH Keywords: neurons
zbMATH Keywords: statistical mechanics of sensory signal processing
zbMATH Keywords: evolution
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: b13591
OpenAlex ID: W2498917853
DOI: 10.1007/B13591
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 992894