Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without the help of many colleagues and friends.
First of all, I would like to thank the many colleagues who took on their time to provide me with
protocols or contributions to the technical boxes and annexes, as well as for offering feedback on the
first drafts of the chapters, among which are Antonio Calabrese, Marina Casiraghi, Laurent J. Catoire,
Tassadite Dahmane, Christine Ebel, Fabrice Giusti, Christel Le Bon, Candice E. Paulsen, Martin
Picard, Bernard Pucci, Giuseppe Zaccai, Francesca Zito, and Manuela Zoonens.
I am greatly indebted to Francis Haraux, who generously illustrated this book with his fanciful
cartoons and, in the process, created the character of Cephalopol, whose adventures in physical
chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics have delighted me and many others.
I warmly thank Donald M. Engelman, who managed to squeeze in his busy schedule the writing
of a foreword that places this book in its exact perspective.
Many colleagues sent me figures, unpublished papers, comments, and suggestions, or helped me
dig up hard-to-find publications, etc., among which are Alison E. Ashcroft, Dominique Bagnard, JeanLouis Banères, Edward A. Berry, Jaap Broos, Jean Cartaud, Pil Seok Chae, Yifan Cheng, Oliver
B. Clarke, Didier Clenet, Melanie J. Cocco, Pierre-Jean Corringer, Gérard Crémel, Luis M. de la Maza,
Eduardo Della Pia, Mark E. Dumont, Andreas Engel, Manuel Etzkorn, Yann Gohon, Valentin
Gordeliy, Francesca Gubellini, Richard Henderson, David Julius, Werner Kühlbrandt, Jeremy
H. Lakey, Tomas Laursen, Marc le Maire, Kevin Leonard, Konstantin S. Mineev, Milena Opačić,
Krzysztof Palczewski, Eva Pebay-Peyroula, Jason D. Perlmutter, Daniel Picot, Vitaly Polovinkin, Gil
G. Privé, Sheena E. Radford, Han Remaut, Charles R. Sanders, Aure Saulnier, Stephen G. Sligar,
Frank Sobott, Christopher G. Tate, Christophe Tribet, Jeroen F. van Dyck, Dror E. Warschawski,
Shinya Yoshikawa, and Thomas Zemb. My thanks also go to Bruno Miroux and Edith Godard, CNRS
UMR 7099, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, who did everything in their power to help
me throughout this long period of writing.
I am grateful to the Springer team, Christopher T. Coughlin, Elias Greenbaum, and HoYing Fan,
for their feedback, advice, and constant availability.
I do not forget the vital assistance of my faithful teapot, which brewed me, over the 3 years it
took to put this book together, an estimated one metric ton of Darjeeling tea.
I feel nostalgic about my parents, who, a few years ago, would have been so happy to leaf
together through a book they are distantly responsible for.
My final and warmest thanks go to my wife, Jacqueline Barra, for her endurance and support
during all of this very long period, as well as for her help with creating many of the figures and hunting
for permissions to reproduce the others. Without her patience and understanding, this book would
never have made it to the printing press.
xv
This book could not have been written without the help of many colleagues and friends.
First of all, I would like to thank the many colleagues who took on their time to provide me with
protocols or contributions to the technical boxes and annexes, as well as for offering feedback on the
first drafts of the chapters, among which are Antonio Calabrese, Marina Casiraghi, Laurent J. Catoire,
Tassadite Dahmane, Christine Ebel, Fabrice Giusti, Christel Le Bon, Candice E. Paulsen, Martin
Picard, Bernard Pucci, Giuseppe Zaccai, Francesca Zito, and Manuela Zoonens.
I am greatly indebted to Francis Haraux, who generously illustrated this book with his fanciful
cartoons and, in the process, created the character of Cephalopol, whose adventures in physical
chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics have delighted me and many others.
I warmly thank Donald M. Engelman, who managed to squeeze in his busy schedule the writing
of a foreword that places this book in its exact perspective.
Many colleagues sent me figures, unpublished papers, comments, and suggestions, or helped me
dig up hard-to-find publications, etc., among which are Alison E. Ashcroft, Dominique Bagnard, JeanLouis Banères, Edward A. Berry, Jaap Broos, Jean Cartaud, Pil Seok Chae, Yifan Cheng, Oliver
B. Clarke, Didier Clenet, Melanie J. Cocco, Pierre-Jean Corringer, Gérard Crémel, Luis M. de la Maza,
Eduardo Della Pia, Mark E. Dumont, Andreas Engel, Manuel Etzkorn, Yann Gohon, Valentin
Gordeliy, Francesca Gubellini, Richard Henderson, David Julius, Werner Kühlbrandt, Jeremy
H. Lakey, Tomas Laursen, Marc le Maire, Kevin Leonard, Konstantin S. Mineev, Milena Opačić,
Krzysztof Palczewski, Eva Pebay-Peyroula, Jason D. Perlmutter, Daniel Picot, Vitaly Polovinkin, Gil
G. Privé, Sheena E. Radford, Han Remaut, Charles R. Sanders, Aure Saulnier, Stephen G. Sligar,
Frank Sobott, Christopher G. Tate, Christophe Tribet, Jeroen F. van Dyck, Dror E. Warschawski,
Shinya Yoshikawa, and Thomas Zemb. My thanks also go to Bruno Miroux and Edith Godard, CNRS
UMR 7099, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, who did everything in their power to help
me throughout this long period of writing.
I am grateful to the Springer team, Christopher T. Coughlin, Elias Greenbaum, and HoYing Fan,
for their feedback, advice, and constant availability.
I do not forget the vital assistance of my faithful teapot, which brewed me, over the 3 years it
took to put this book together, an estimated one metric ton of Darjeeling tea.
I feel nostalgic about my parents, who, a few years ago, would have been so happy to leaf
together through a book they are distantly responsible for.
My final and warmest thanks go to my wife, Jacqueline Barra, for her endurance and support
during all of this very long period, as well as for her help with creating many of the figures and hunting
for permissions to reproduce the others. Without her patience and understanding, this book would
never have made it to the printing press.
xv