Outsider Scientists: Routes to Innovation in Biology

by Oren Harman (Editor), Michael R. Dietrich (Editor)

Outsider Scientists describes the transformative role played by “outsiders” in the growth of the modern life sciences. Biology, which occupies a special place between the exact and human sciences, has historically attracted many thinkers whose primary training was in other mathematics, physics, chemistry, linguistics, philosophy, history, anthropology, engineering, and even literature. These outsiders brought with them ideas and tools that were foreign to biology, but which, when applied to biological problems, helped to bring about dramatic, and often surprising, breakthroughs.

           

This volume brings together eighteen thought-provoking biographical essays of some of the most remarkable outsiders of the modern era, each written by an authority in the respective field. From Noam Chomsky using linguistics to answer questions about brain architecture, to Erwin Schrödinger contemplating DNA as a physicist would, to Drew Endy tinkering with Biobricks to create new forms of synthetic life, the outsiders featured here make clear just how much there is to gain from disrespecting conventional boundaries. Innovation, it turns out, often relies on importing new ideas from other fields. Without its outsiders, modern biology would hardly be recognizable.

Genres: Science, Biology

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Oren Harman, who has a doctorate from Oxford University, is the Chair of the Graduate Program in Science Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University and a professor of the history of science. He is the author of The Man Who Invented the Chromosome, a documentary film maker, and a frequent contributor to The New Republic. He lives in Tel Aviv and New York.

Reviews

[Tine Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid book: it looks at biology from unexpected viewpoints, all very innovating. Some of these "outsider scientists" I had never heard of before, such Nicolas Rashevsky or Drew Endy. Others are very well-known, but are re-described here in refreshing ways: Gregor Mendel, Erwin Schrödinger, Linus Pauling, Noam Chomsky. Some of these scientists are overestimated perhaps: Noam Chomsky is indeed an outsider to biology, but how scientific is he? Others are strongly underestimated in my opinion: the ideas of Elaine Morgan on human ancestors following the coasts and rivers deserve a lot more attention than the traditional views of human ancestors running over hot open plains. A very readable, stimulating and thought-provoking book. Highly recommended.