What Is Life?: The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell

Schrodinger was a very clever physicist, and he applied his intelligence and knowledge to the question of the title. His book first appeared in 1944, but Schrodinger's reasoning shows what kind of structure DNA must be, decades before its structure was discovered or observed. He wrote very clearly for non-scientists, but did not shy away from complex subjects. He does answer the question, in physical terms. He believes the genetic machinery is based on the physics which appears to operate in the rest of the universe, which is a fair assumption. He comes to some surprising conclusions about the individual and their relationship to each other and the universe. Very thought-provoking and still very readable and relevant today.

Starting from pretty basic thermodynamic assumptions, Schrödinger ends up speculating about the nature of personality and the 'self'. At the time of writing the DNA was not yet discovered but is nothing but directly predicted in this work. Overall this is a short and entertaining historical-scientific text that teaches you as much about genetics and entropy as about the way the mind of one of the great physical thinkers of his times worked.

¿QUE ES LA VIDA?

Schrodinger era un físico muy inteligente, y aplicó su inteligencia y conocimiento a la cuestión del título. Su libro apareció por primera vez en 1944, pero el razonamiento de Schrodinger muestra qué tipo de estructura debe ser el ADN, décadas antes de que su estructura fuera descubierta u observada. Escribió muy claramente para los no científicos, pero no rehuyó las cuestiones complejas. Él responde la pregunta, en términos físicos. Él cree que la maquinaria genética se basa en la física que parece funcionar en el resto del universo, lo cual es una suposición razonable. Él llega a algunas conclusiones sorprendentes sobre el individuo y su relación entre sí y con el universo. Muy estimulante y aún show more muy legible y relevante hoy. show less