[asa] chemistry nobels

The Nobels Prize for chemistry was awarded for mapping the structure of ribosomes (http://apnews.myway.com//article/20091007/D9B6A80O0.html). What struck me in this report was a statement (about 1/3 of the way down the page): "Their work builds on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and, more directly, on the work done by James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in medicine for mapping DNA's double helix, the citation said." Now I know we like to argue for the crucial role of evolutionary theory (a la Dobhzhansky) but I wonder if this statement isn't a bit too strong. Saying that this work builds on Darwin's theory seems to me a bit like saying that the physics award for work on fiber optics networks "builds on Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism". It's not really wrong but it gives a misleading impression.

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

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Received on Wed Oct 7 10:58:12 2009