Mathematical Biophysics

THE application of physico-mathematical methods to biology has been advocated now and again by scientific workers; but until recently no systematic attempt to create a mathematical biology has been made, and the advocates of this ‘science to come’ have confined themselves to outlining the possibilities of such an approach. True, there is a wealth of literature on the application of mathematical statistics to various biological phenomena; but the whole of this field of research lacks almost completely the physical point of view. General physics is accepted as of paramount importance in the study of biological phenomena; the application of physical methods has already resulted in important biological discoveries. But most of this application is restricted to the use of physical apparatus in biological experiment; and very little attempt has been made to gain an insight into the physico-chemical basis of life, similar to the fundamental insight of the physicist into the intimate details of atomic phenomena. Such an insight is possible only by mathematical analysis; for our experiments do not and cannot reveal those hidden fundamental properties of Nature. It is through mathematical analysis that we must infer, from the wealth of known, relatively coarse facts, to the much finer, not directly accessible fundamentals. The greatest advances of modern physics are due to such men as Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Dirac, who unravel the mysteries of the physical universe by the power of their thought, using mathematics as their tool.