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11 - Biological programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2011

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Summary

Although the realities of biochemists' careers were shaped by medical service roles, their aspirations were less bound to the quotidian. From time to time, biochemists have claimed that biochemistry is not limited to medicine but comprises the chemical aspects of all the biological and medical disciplines. This conception of biochemistry as a basic biological discipline had its roots less in useful applications than in reductionist ideologies; it looked less to the present than to the future. Russell Chittenden's 1908 presidential address to the American Society of Biological Chemists exemplifies this biological program:

It is well understood today that all the phenomena of life are to be explained on the basis of chemical and physical laws, and it is partly because of a clear recognition of this fact that biological chemistry has finally attained the eminence it has now reached as a division of biology: a branch of study that promises much in the ultimate explanation of the most intricate…problems of life.…As a result, physiological chemistry has developed by leaps and bounds, until today special laboratories and journals devoted to this subject are to be found on all sides.…Under the broad term of biological chemistry, we are dealing with a subject which…concerns itself with the chemical processes of living organisms, and…these are as many and varied as the organisms themselves.

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From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry
The Making of a Biomedical Discipline
, pp. 286 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1982

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  • Biological programs
  • Robert E. Kohler
  • Book: From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry
  • Online publication: 07 October 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511897313.011
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  • Biological programs
  • Robert E. Kohler
  • Book: From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry
  • Online publication: 07 October 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511897313.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Biological programs
  • Robert E. Kohler
  • Book: From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry
  • Online publication: 07 October 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511897313.011
Available formats
×