Abstract
In this paper, I shall attempt to present an appraisal of various theoretical attempts to describe biological living systems, on the basis of the methods of physics and chemistry. I was stimulated and provoked to write this paper, as a result of my participation in the third international seminar on living state, held at Shillong, India, in December 1986. One may state that the problem of the theory of living state, has been significantly influenced by the expressed thoughts of Wigner, Elsasser, Prigogine, Eigen, Davyodov and Fröhlich. This list is by no means complete, since contributions of Schrodinger, Bertalanffy, Reńe Thom and others are no leas significant. In this brief note, it is impossible to critically analyze all or any of these theses, in full detail. Possibly the best summary of the dissipative structures and hypercycles, is presented in the 1972 articles of Prigogine, Nicolis and Babloyantz, published in Physics Today[1,2]. Our objective in this paper, will be much modest, and hopefully thought provoking, specifying certain critical remarks.
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References
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Vaidhyanathan, V.S. (1990). What is a Physical Theory of Living State?. In: Mishra, R.K. (eds) Molecular and Biological Physics of Living Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1890-0_10
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