Information and the Transformation of Molecular Biology

How did scientists come to view organisms and molecules as information storage and retrieval systems? By which processes did life come to be conceptualized as a text written in a natural language? By posing these questions, the investigator aims to reconstruct a critical history of the development of the genetic code in relation to the concepts of information storage and retrieval. Leading to a published book, this research will focus on the years 1953-1973, when researchers unraveled salient mechanisms of DNA function, representing it as information transfer: the transcription and translation of DNA into proteins. The study will examine how this new language has altered our basic concepts of nature, organisms, health, disease, and behavior. It will also underscore the constraints that culture, language, and ideology place on the production of scientific knowledge: mediating our representations of nature and the articulation of life processes. The research methodology will include the use of primary and secondary scientific sources as well as archival records and interviews.