"Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur." Offprint from Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, Fachgruppe VI, Biologie, Neue Folge, Band 1, nr. 13, 1935, pp. [189]-245. UNOPENED COPY

TIMOFEEFF-RESSOVSKY, N. V.; K. G. ZIMMER; & M. [Max] DELBRÜCK

Published by Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1935.

About this Item

Pp. [189]-245, including 14 tables and 11 text figures. Original green printed wrappers. UNOPENED. Near Fine. This copy does NOT have any library markings. First Separate Edition. Garrison-Morton 254.1. The paper contains four parts: Erster Teil: Timoféeff-Ressovsky, "Einige Tatsachen der Mutationsforschung." Zweiter Teil: Zimmer, "Die Treffertheorie und ihre Beziehung zur Mutationsauslösung." Dritter Teil: Delbrück, "Atomphysikalisches Modell der Genmutation." Vierter Teil: Timoféeff-Ressovsky, Zimmer & Delbrück, "Theorie der Genmutation und der Genstruktur." "Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur" is often referred to as the "Dreimänner" ["Three-Man"] paper because of its three authors, or the "green paper" because of the color of the wrappers. It is divided into four sections. "The first section, by Timoféeff-Ressovsky, describes the mutagenic effects of X-rays and gamma rays on the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. . . . The second section . . . is by Zimmer and applies the target theory to Timoféeff-Ressovsky's results. . . . The third section is by Max Delbrück. . . . His paper shows the maturity, judgement and breadth of knowledge of someone who had been in the field for years. It is imaginative, and sober, and its carefully worded predictions have stood the test of time" (Perutz, "Physics and the Riddle of Life," Nature, Vol. 326, 1987, pp. 556-57). The three authors of the paper "concluded that a mutation is a molecular rearrangement within a particular molecule, and the gene a union of atoms within which a mutation, in the sense of a molecular rearrangement or dissociation of bonds, can occur. The actual calculations of the size of the gene, deduced from calculations on the assumption of a spherical target, were not cogent, as Delbrück wryly admitted in his Nobel Prize lecture, but the entire approach to the problem of mutation and the gene adopted by the three collaborators was highly stimulating to other investigations" (D.S.B. 18: 922). Chapters IV and V of Erwin Schrödinger's book What is Life? (1944) are entitled "The Quantum-Mechanical Evidence" and "Delbrück's Model Discussed and Tested", and "are largely paraphrased versions of the paper by Timoféeff, Zimmer and Delbrück. . . . In retrospect, the chief merit of What is Life? is its popularization of the Timoféeff, Zimmer and Delbrück paper that would otherwise have remained unknown outside the circles of geneticists and radiation biologists" (Perutz, ibid., pp. 556, 558). An entire book has been published about this "Three-Man Paper", with an English translation: Creating a Physical Biology. The Three-Man Paper and Early Molecular Biology, edited by Phillip R. Sloan and Brandon Fogel (2011).

Seller Inventory # 16099

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Über die Natur der Genmutation und der Genstruktur." Offprint from Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, Fachgruppe VI, Biologie, Neue Folge, Band 1, nr. 13, 1935, pp. [189]-245. UNOPENED COPY
• Publisher: Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1935.
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine