Letter from C. H. Waddington to Francis Crick

Letter from C. H. Waddington to Francis Crick

Contributor(s):
The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers
Crick, Francis, 1916-2004
Waggington, C. H. (Conrad Hal), 1905-1975
Publication:
Produced: 27 December 1967
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Biology
Vitalism
Macromolecular Substances
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Letters (correspondence)
Abstract:
Waddington's exchange with Crick came in response to a review by Waddington of Crick's book, Of Molecules and Men (1966), which argued against vitalism, the belief that living beings are animated by an autonomous soul or metaphysical inner force that cannot be explained by natural laws. In his letter Waddington gave more credence than Crick to the idea that by studying macromolecules and other complex biological systems, phenomena such as bonding would be observed that could not be accounted for by the current knowledge of physics, and whose explanation would require further development of theoretical physics (which was not to say that physics could not eventually explain these phenomena). Moreover, Waddington emphasized how far physics and chemistry were from giving explanations for the most complex of result of evolution, human consciousness.
Copyright:
This item may be under copyright protection; contact the copyright owner for permission before re-use.
Extent:
3 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584582X159 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
SCBBLS
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X159
Archival Collection:
The Francis Crick Papers (Profiles in Science)