The American Phage Group: Founders of Molecular Biology (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300263565)

A fascinating historical account of the American Phage Group and how its new research framework became the foundation for molecular biology

This book is the first critical and analytical study of the American Phage Group--a small group of scientists who gathered around Max Delbr?k, Salvador Luria, and Alfred Hershey between 1940 and 1960--and how this novel research program became the foundation of the field of molecular biology. These three young, charismatic, and iconoclastic scientists were convinced of the importance of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) to the study of the gene and of heredity in general. Based on substantial archival research, numerous participant interviews collected over the past thirty years, and an intimate knowledge of the relevant scientific literature in the field, William C. Summers has written a fascinating new history of the American Phage Group. Rather than a linear narrative of progress by past heroes, this book emphasizes the diversity and historical contingencies in the group's development.

Author: William C. Summers
ISBN-10: 0300263562
ISBN-13: 9780300263565
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/10/2023
Pages: 312
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.59w x 1.02d