Acknowledgments |
x |
Introduction |
1 |
|
Part 1. Intimations: Many Questions but No Good Answers |
Chapter 1 |
Six Who Helped Lay the Groundwork |
7 |
Carolus Linnaeus: "I will sort and name many things." |
10 |
George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon: "I will describe and explain
everything." |
14 |
James Hutton: "The world is older than you think." |
20 |
Jean Baptiste Lamarck: "Species change.They do it by striving." |
22 |
Georges Cuvier: "Fossils are real." |
26 |
Thomas Malthus: "Life is a struggle. Only the fittest survive." |
30 |
|
Part 11. A Theory at Last: Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species |
Chapter 2 |
The Voyage of the Beagle. First Suspicions about Change. Years of Lonely Labor.
|
37 |
Chapter 3 |
A Shock from the Spice Islands. The Shocker: Alfred Russel Wallace. |
70 |
Chapter 4 |
The Origin Is Published. The Reaction. |
84 |
|
Part 111. Two Problems That Darwin Could Not Solve |
Chapter 5 |
Gregor Mendel. The Problem of Blending Explained: Traits Endure. |
105 |
Chapter 6 |
Hugo de Vries. The Source of Variation Found: Mutations Occur. Mendel Is Vindicated. |
123 |
|
Part IV. Inside the Cell: Chromosomes and Genes |
Chapter 7. |
The Role of the Chromosome |
135 |
August Weismann: "Your chromosomes determine what you are." |
138 |
Theodor Boveri: "Yes, and you need them all." |
140 |
The Bicycle Factory: Designers and Workers. |
143 |
Chapter 8 |
The Fly Room |
146 |
T. H. Morgan (early): "Forget genes; they don't exist." |
146 |
T. H. Morgan (later): "Sorry; they do." |
151 |
Alfred Sturtevant: Crossing Over Discovered. |
162 |
Hermann J. Muller: The Source of Mutations Revealed. Darwin in Eclipse. |
171 |
Darwin Rehabilitated: The New Evolutionary Synthesis. |
179 |
|
Part V. Inside the Chromosome: DNA and RNA |
Chapter 9 |
Friedrich Miescher: What Are Chromosomes Made of? Answer: DNA. |
185 |
Chapter 10 |
George Beadle and Edward L. Tatum: What Does DNA Do? It Hands Out Instructions and
Thus Changes Things. |
193 |
Chapter 11 |
Oswald Avery: Is That Really True? Yes; DNA Is the Transforming Agent. |
205 |
Chapter 12 |
James Watson and Francis Crick: How Is DNA Put Together? |
215 |
The First Model a Disaster. |
220 |
The Second Model a Triumph. The Double Helix. |
226 |
Chapter 13 |
Questions for Crick: What Does the Code Say? How Is It Read? Is RNA Involved? |
235 |
Chapter 14 |
The Dual Nature of DNA |
251 |
Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl: Autocatalysis--DNA Makes Itself. |
251 |
Arthur Kornberg: Heterocatalysis--a Relationship Between DNA and Proteins Is
Established. |
255 |
Marshall Nirenberg and Johann Matthaei: The DNA Code Is Cracked. |
258 |
Chapter 15 |
The Triplet Code and the Ribosome. Crick Enunciates the Central Dogma. |
267 |
|
Part Vl. The Origin of Life |
Chapter 16 |
Stanley L. Miller and Manfred Eigen: A Look from the Bottom Up. |
281 |
Chapter 17 |
Carl R. Woese: A Look from the Top Down. |
296 |
|
Part Vll. DNA and the Fossil Record |
Chapter 18 |
What Old Bones Have to Say about Human Evolution. What Molecules Have to Say. |
325 |
|
Part Vlll. Specialization and Extinction |
Chapter 19 |
Is There Danger in Being Too Smart? |
371 |
|
|
Bibliography |
391 |
Illustration Credits |
395 |
Index |
397 |