Linus Pauling: I learned from the biologists that biological specificity
is essentially the major problem that we have to understand if we want to understand
life.
Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organisms or constituents
of
living organisms of being special or doing something special. Each animal or
plant species is
special - specificity. It differs in some way from all other species of animals.
Its
outstanding specificity is that of passing on to its progeny, its descendants,
its own
characteristic nature. How is it possible for two... You know, you are all pretty
sophisticated, or jaded, now by these things. They may not seem interesting to
you but in the old days we could ask “how is it possible for two human beings to have
an offspring that is a human being rather than some other animal - even an offspring
that resembles his parents more than he resembles other human beings?" Well, Morgan,
Sturtevant, and Bridges, and Muller, around 1911 had developed the theory of the gene
and the three of them were there in Pasadena. I was always being exposed to talk
about genetics, heredity, specificity and being stimulated to ask myself over and
over again "What can the molecules be doing that confers such high specificity on
these living organisms?"
Clip
Creator: Linus Pauling Associated: Thomas Hunt Morgan, A.H. Sturtevant, Calvin B. Bridges, Hermann J. Muller Clip ID: 1983v.1a-02
Full Work
Creator: Linus Pauling Associated: University of California, Berkeley
