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history
of biophysics
Short
History of Biophysical Society
The
founding of the Biophysical Society was the outgrowth of the initiative
of the Committee of Four, composed of Samuel A. Talbot, Chairman, Kenneth
S. Cole, Ernest C. Pollard and Otto H. Schmitt, elected by a group of interested
scientists at the Federation Meeting in Atlantic City, April 1956.
This Committee, assisted by Ralph W. Stacy, Local Arrangements Chairman,
and Herman P. Schwan, Publicity Chairman, organized and administered the
First National Biophysics Conference held in Columbus, Ohio, March 4-6,
1957. At the business meeting held during this conference, presided
over by Max A. Lauffer, the decision was made to organize the Biophysical
Society and Temporary Council was elected. The Temporary Council
later elected Robley C. Williams as its President, adopted the Constitution
and Bylaws of the Society, developed by a committee chaired by Max A. Lauffer,
formulated a temporary plan of operation for the first year of the Society,
prepared a slate of officers for the first year and planned, with Cyrus
Levinthal as Program Chairman and Arthur K. Solomon as Local Arrangements
Chairman, the second meeting of the Biophysical Society held early in 1958
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At this meeting, the recommendations
of the Temporary Council were accepted, the Constitution and Bylaws were
ratified and the proposed slate of officers elected, thereby formally founding
the Biophysical Society.
Annotated
bibliography on history of biophysics
Biophysics
as a distinct branch of scientific knowledge originated early in the 20th
Century. Our brief annotated bibliography provides an introduction
to secondary sources on selected topics and personalities in the history
of biophysics.
Cool
history of biophysics sites
A selection of websites containing
information about the history of selected topics or personalities in biophysics
and related disciplines.
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Molecules,
Cells, and Life: An annotated bibliography of manuscript sources on
physiology, biochemistry, and biophysics, 1900-1960, in the library of
the American Philosophical Society. By Lily E. Kay
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Linus
Pauling and the Race for DNA: A Documentary History. “ Utilizing over
800 scanned documents, photographs, audio clips and video excerpts, this
website narrates the breathless details of the pursuit of the discovery
of the double helix structure of DNA. Maintained by The Valley Library
at Oregon State University, the repository of the papers of Linus and Ava
Pauling.
Seeking
the Secret of Life: The DNA Story in New York. Website associated
with an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of
the structure of DNA. Developed and maintained by the Science, Industry,
and Business Library of the New York Public Library.
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Books
on DNA. A bibliography of over 1200 books on DNA published from
1850 to the present. Assembled by David W. Ussery, Center for Biological
Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark.
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Chemical
Heritage Foundation. Provides online access to the Othmer Library
of Chemical History, the CHF collection of art and artifacts, an extensive
oral history collection, as well as educational pages on the history of
specific topics in chemistry. The CHF “…serves the community of the
chemical and molecular sciences and the wider public by treasuring the
past, educating the present, and inspiring the future. In fulfillment
of our mission, this site offers many tools for the researcher, the student,
and those who want to explore and discover how chemical and molecular science
has changed the world we live in.”
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Center
for the History of Physics. A website “to preserve and make
known the history of modern physics and allied fields including astronomy,
geophysics, optics, and the like”. Maintained by the American Institute
of Physics.
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History
of Biomedicine. Information on the history of medicine from ancient
times to the modern era; maintained by the Karolinska Institutet.
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The
Nobel e-Museum. Historical information about the Nobel Prize
and biographical information on every Prize winner.
2004
Emily Gray Lecture
The
2004 Emily M. Gray lecture at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical
Society was entitled “The Concept of a Protein: A Brief History of
an Idea”. This talk outlined major themes in the history of the concept
of a protein from the first recognition in the mid 18th century that proteins
were common to both plants and animals to the publication of the x-ray
structures of the first proteins in ~1960. An expanded version of
this talk provides a short introduction to protein history.
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