‘The Mathematics of Life’ is a book that was written by Ian Stewart which talks about the rich connections which already exist between mathematics and biology. This book included and tackled about the likes of the Human Genome Project, the structure of viruses, the organization of the cell, the interactions of organisms holistically, and many other biological concepts. The author then showed and discussed on how mathematics helped to solve issues concerning many biological breakthroughs by well-known scientists: starting from the basic concepts to the discovery of the DNA which led biologists to focus more on the so-called ‘molecule of life’.
The main points on this book certainly revolve around the great revolutions which led the scientists to change their way of analyzing life. There are five great revolutions: the microscope, the systematic classification, the theory of evolution, the discovery of genes, and the discovery of the structure of the DNA as what he noted in the book and accounted the coming of the sixth one: Mathematics. Before tackling the sixth great revolution, he first discussed the first five revolutions.
“If human eyesight had been better, we might never have experienced the first revolution, when we noticed the hidden wonders of life.” as said by Mr. Stewart. It was clearly stated by that statement that the first point of this book is all about instruments with magnifying lenses. This part clearly and concisely discussed on the ideas and principles with regards to the construction of these instruments especially the Microscopes. I agree with his statement, if we human beings have better eyesight we wouldn’t have a need to construct an instrument which magnifies small things, that we can uncover, observe and study the vast richness of the complexity of the world of microorganisms without the aid of any instrument, thus lessening the complex works and costs of studies. This part of the book talks about the discovery and construction of microscopes by Anton van Leeuwenhoek and then eventually led to the discovery of the cell by Robert Hooke.
Systematic classification of organisms by Carl Linnaeus is the second great revolution in science according in the book. With his admirable work, living organisms are classified and named in terms of its species, genus, family and other extensive groupings that made this present society easily classify and differentiate one species to another. The author also said that the “Linnaeus’s classification scheme has brought a degree of order into the apparently chaotic world of life on Earth today.” With this systematic classification, hierarchical structures could also show the evolutionary ancestry of the organisms present today.
Mr. Stewart also made an important distinction between the descriptive and explanatory models that is related with “the strange numerology of the plant kingdom”. He observed some strange patterns and also connected these patterns with the golden ratio, the golden angle, and the Fibonacci sequence. Such matters would indicate the possible occurrence of a mathematical pattern in nature.
The third main point of the book is all about the theory of evolution or the origin of species which was made famous by Charles Darwin. This evolution is said to be recognized by natural selection. With the presence of natural selection, those organisms that can adapt and fit well with the environment will survive and those that are inadequate will not survive. Due to this selective pressure, evolution takes place.
Genetics is considered as the fourth great revolutionary in science as noted by Mr. Stewart. Here, Gregor Mendel and his discoveries like that of inheritance, that is greatly important to the world of genetics, were tackled. Mendel first observed the various characters that were exhibited by the parent organism (plant), and then cross-fertilized a plant which has a particular version of that character with another plant, having the same version or a different one, and finally sees the corresponding characters present in the next generation.
The fifth one is the discovery of the structure of the molecule of life, DNA. With Crick and Watson provided the double-stranded model of the DNA, many advances in the field of medicine were accomplished in the recent times. This is because when the double-helix structure of the DNA was published, more studies were conducted in order to understand this molecule of life more. These researches include the understanding of amino acids, nitrogenous bases and such. With this new knowledge, the molecule of life is understood well and many genetically inherited diseases could also be understood and then possibly be cured.
This book also discussed and nourishes our understanding about viruses. He observed that viruses consist of a genetic material that is wrapped in a protein coat; with each virus have a definite structure, either icosahedral or helical. These shapes successfully correlate mathematics with biology with the help of the application of geometry to these structures. But shockingly, it is geometry in six dimensions. With the help of Geometry, potential weak points of the assembly process of the virus will be provided.
This is really considerate and good of him to first tackle the first five because those readers whom are not truthfully interested in these kind of matters will understand more and will be able to relate on how or why he saw mathematics as the sixth great revolution in biology. I somehow enjoyed reading this book given that I am a biology student and that most of the terms used here are not new to me, thus, I can appreciate his work well enough. His discussion on the first five revolutions was good since he provided facts in relation with each revolution. As for the coming of mathematics as the sixth one, his correlation with biology was a little off. Maybe because his main point on this one has yet to emerge. His point here can just be considered as the beginning of a whole new set of great and unforgettable scientific revolutions.
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