

Prof. Rob Phillips (CalTech)
Schrodinger’s What is Life? at 75: The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell Revisited
Time & Location
14 Oct 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm AEDT
Theory of Living Systems Webinar
About the Event
Abstract
2019 marked the 75th anniversary of the publication of Erwin Schrodinger's ``What is Life?'', a short book hailed by Roger Penrose as ``among the most influential scientific writings'’ of the 20th century'’. In this talk, I will briefly review the long argument made by Schrodinger as he mused on how the laws of physics could help us understand ``the events in space and time which takes place within the spatial boundary of a living organism.'' Though often chronicled for its influence on some of the titans of the rise of molecular biology, my talk takes a different tack. I pivot to the idea of Schrodinger’s classic as a timeless manifesto. Rather than a dated historical curiosity, I argue that ``What is Life?'' is full of stylish approaches to understanding the mysterious living world around us and instead, might be viewed as a call to arms to tackle the…