Publisher's Synopsis
This is a book which examines and explores the discoveries as well as the lives of twenty-five stellar scientists who have all contributed in different ways to the field that we know today as "molecular biology". The book covers a vast timeline from the last century to present day advances and concerns such as viral replication and transmission. The book examines the foundational structures of the field as well as how many scientists and basic scientific knowledge has contributed to our current understanding. Beginning with DNA (as hereditary material) and evolving into recombinant DNA and replication and somatic DNA, the book covers the way in which scientists have examined and explored these realms and some of the resultant discoveries which have led to the Nobel Prize. Nobel prize winners are not born, but they are made -- they are made from years of education, years of familial nurturance, years of mentoring by other scientists (either formally or informally) and of course by luck, chance, fate and surreptitious encounters. Some of our scientists have spent years studying the fruit fly (drosophila), fly genetics, mutations, replications, and of course, genes, gene replication, split genes and "jumping genes". For those seeking an overview of the field of molecular biology this text will provide an overview of the lives of those who have delved most deeply into these issues and those whose discoveries have resulted in the Nobel Prize. The test is certainly relevant in today's world as we encounter and challenge the dreaded ever evolving virus known as Covid-19 which seems intent on replicating, changing, evolving and challenging mankind and our scientific community.
