The emergence of molecular biology

Abstract

In this article the author discusses the history of the emergence of molecular biology according to his own in- terpretation. It focuses on the period of approximately one century between the functional gene to the physical gene, ie from Mendel’s work in the 60s of the nineteenth century until the discovery of the double helix in the 50s of the twentieth century. Additionally it is described in a much more panoramic perspective the knowledge developed since the discovery by Watson and Crick in 1953 to the present day. The paper shows how molecular biology is an intersection between four fundamental sciences, physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. Fi- nally it proposes a chronological sequence of the subject and presents some philosophical implications that, at the discretion of the author, derived from the history of molecular biology.