Principles and Mechanisms of Biological Evolution - Molecular Theory of the Living Cell - page 478

Table 14.3 The historical development of scientific theories from the macroscopic to the
microscopic levels

Theory
Macroscopic

Field Microscopic

1. Physics (a) Mechanics Newtonian

Mechanics
(Newton 1678)

Quantum Mechanics (Bohr et al.
1925)

Hydrogen Line
Spectra (Balmer
1885)

Bohr's Atomic Model (Bohr
1913)

(b) Thermodynamics Entropy, dS dQ/dT

(Clausius 1865)

¼ S ¼ k ln W (Boltzmann

1872-1875)

Blackbody Radiation
(Kirchhoff 1859)

Quantization of Energy (Planck
1900)

2. Chemistry (c) Periodic Table Regularities in

Chemical
Properties
(Mendeleev 1869)

Regularities of Atomic
Structures (Bohr 1920-1923)

3. Biology (d) Genetics Heritable Factor

(Mendel 1865)

DNA (Avery et al. 1944; Watson
and Crick 1953)

(e) Enzymology Ensemble-Averaged

Enzymology
(Michaelis and
Menten 1913)

Single-Molecule Enzymology
explained by conformon
theory (Lu et al. 1998;
Ji 2008b) (Sect. 11.3 )

(f) Muscle
Contraction

Sliding Filament
Mechanisms
(Huxley and
Hanson 1960)

Single-Molecule Mechanics
based on the conformon
theory (Ishijima et al. 1998;
Ji 2008b) (Sect. 11.4 )

(g) Cell Biology The Cell Theory

(Schleiden and
Schwann 1938)
(Swanson 1964)

The Cell as the Smallest Unit of
Computation ( the computon )
driven by Conformons and
the Cell Language (Ji 1985a,
b, 1997a, 2002b) (Sects.
6.1.2 and 10.1 )

(h) Evolutionary
Biology

Darwinian Theory
of Evolution
(Darwin 1859)

The cell theory of evolution
(Kirschner and Gerhart 1998,
2005; Ji this chapter)

physics was sparked by seemingly simple experimental data provided by the
spectral analyses (i.e., the analysis of the wavelength dependency) of light emitted
by heated objects, either solid (as in the case of blackbody radiation) or gases (as in
atomic line spectroscopy) (Sect. 11.3.3 ). The result of this revolution was the
establishment of the novel concept that energy is absorbed or emitted by matter
in discrete units referred to as quanta , later called photons or quons (see Table 14.3 )
(Herbert 1987).
The concepts of energy and entropy are the twin pillars of the science of heat
(i.e., thermodynamics ), the former being governed by the First Law (Sect. 2.1.3 )
and the latter by the Second Law (Sect. 2.1.4 ). Although not as spectacular as the
quantum revolution that centered primarily on energy (see Row a in Table 14.3 ),