Erwin Schrödinger
8 key ideas, each explained in our own words.
What Is Life?
- IDEA 1
Physics can explain life
Schrödinger, a famous physicist, asks how the laws of physics and chemistry can account for living things. His short book, based on lectures in Dublin, inspired many later scientists. He believed living things should not be treated as beyond science.
- IDEA 2
Life creates order from order
Schrödinger notes that living things keep themselves highly ordered, while the universe tends towards disorder. He suggests that life maintains its order by drawing on order from its surroundings. Life does this by feeding on its surroundings, not by escaping the rules.
- IDEA 3
Genes hold a hidden code
Schrödinger suggests that hereditary information is stored in a kind of code-script inside cells. This code contains the instructions for building and running a living thing. A small amount of material must carry a great deal of information.
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