The Story of Genetics, Development and Evolution

This unique story offers an introductory conversation to genetics, embryology and evolution, taking us on a historical journey of biology through the ages. Using a series of dialogues between the Greek philosopher Democritus and his disciple Alkimos, we travel through time visiting eminent scientists throughout the centuries, from Lazzaro Spallanzani and Theodor Boveri to Francis Crick, Max Perutz and Christiane Nüsslein–Volhard. We find ourselves at the intersection of competing theories in biology and witness the progression from the debunking the theory of spontaneous generation to the mapping of the genome. Attention is given not only to the great successes in the field but also to the equally important and exciting failures.

Originally published in Hungarian, The Story of Genetics, Development and Evolution provides a historical background to the life sciences, with complex scientific concepts stripped down and explained carefully for academics and anyone interested in going back to the roots and philosophies of scientific progress.

Translated from: Jékely G Master, are you awake? A fictitious dialogue on genetics, development and evolution. 2006, Bratislava: Kalligram

Sample Chapter(s)
Part One: The Mystery (and Sperm) of Life's Origins (6,027 KB)

• Prologue:
  • At the Harbour
  • At the Market
• Part One: The Mystery (and Sperm) of Life's Origins
  • Deux Ex Machina
  • The World Egg
  • Spontaneous Generation and Meat Broth — Lazzaro Spallanzani
  • Preformation or Epigenesis?
  • Types and Rhythms of Embryos — Karl Ernst von Baer
  • Cell from a Cell
  • The Feats of the Sea Urchin
• Part Two: Chromosomes, Mendelian Factors and Evolution
  • Roasted Capon
  • The Immortal Germplasm
  • Reduction Division
  • A London Pigeon Sale — Thomas Henry Huxley
  • The Orchard of Evolution
  • Peas and Minotaur — William Bateson
  • Galton and Mendel
  • Two Sperm, One Ovum — Theodor Boveri
• Part Three: The Triumph of Genes
  • Trickster Mendelians — Thomas Hunt Morgan
  • Sex Chromosomes
  • The Telltale White Eye
  • Genetic Mapping
• Part Four: Forces and Reactions
  • The Mathematics of Life — D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
  • The Two-Headed Newt
  • Zeus's Beard
  • Evolutionary Synthesis
  • The Casting Moulds of Genes — Hermann Joseph Muller
  • Fronts on the Wings of a Moth — Alfred Kühn
  • The Birth of Patterns
• Part Five: The Atoms of Life
  • Hormones in Larva Blood
  • One Gene, One Enzyme — George Wells Beadle
  • The Protein–Genes
  • The Principle of Transformation — Oswald Theodore Avery
  • The Triple Helix — Linus Pauling
  • DNA with Ambrosia
• Part Six: Codes and Links
  • The Central Dogma — Francis Crick
  • The Diamond Code of Proteins
  • The Genetic Code
  • A Molecular Lung — Max Ferdinand Perutz
  • Sugar-Consuming Bacteria — Jacques Monod
• Part Seven: Genes in the Mortar
  • Epigenesis and Genetics — Conrad Hal Waddington
  • A Recipe for Making Mice — Sydney Brenner
  • The Wiring of a Worm's Brain
  • Recombinant DNA
  • Striped Embryos — Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
  • Our Worm Ancestors — Detlev Arendt
  • The Age of Genomics — Eugene Koonin
• Part Eight: Beyond Genes
  • Postcard to Thrace
  • The Cedar Forest of Abdera
  • The Philosophy of Biology — Ernst Mayr
  • The Genetics of the Biosphere
  • Biscuits Baked in Ash
  • On the Island of Bensalem — Pál Juhász-Nagy
• Epilogue:
  • On Mount Olympus
  • The Bay of Abdera
• Appendix: A Chronology of Events Discussed in the Book
• Further Reading
• List of Figures
• Index