158
N. ARLEY
"Wenn ich in den Griibeleien eines langen Lebens etwas gelernt habe, so ist
es dies, daB wir von einer tiefen Einsicht in die elementaren Vorgange viel weiter
entfernt sind, als die meisten Zeitgenossen glauben" (p. 397 in [10]). ("If I have
learned something from the speculations of a long life, then it is that we are a
much longer distance away from a deep insight into the elementary processes of
Nature than most of our contemporaries believe").
Actually all those basic problems in physics mentioned by EINSTEIN in
1938 as unsolved [9], are still as unsolved today as they were 25 years ago,
and one of the most fundamental problems regarding our concept of time,
discussed for more than 60 years since the publication of EINSTEIN'S first
paper on his relativity theory, has only recently been cleared up [4]. It is
also a conspicuous fact that we do not yet know the basic causes of such
elementary biological phenomena as every individual Man has observed
throughout 100,000's of years and still observes today: why we are all
going to die, why the growth of every child stops at maturity, why we all
need sleep every day.
It is, therefore, no wonder that we still know so little about the basic
biological problems of both normal and pathological cells, such as why
cells divide, why cells differentiate into various tissues, how cells manage
to build themselves in their metabolism the new specific molecules they
need, and how ionizing radiation interferes with the normal processes of
the cells, the damaging effects of which may in some circumstances take
15-20 or more years to be observable (fig. XII. 1 p. 139 in [7]).
At my Oslo institute we have recently tried to give a comprehensive
review of what we know, of what we do not know, and of what experimental and theoretical methods of investigation we may today hope will be
most fruitful for extending our knowledge about some of these basic
biological problems [6]. Now the research of the last decade or so has made
it more and more probable that the reason why it has turned out to be so
difficult to fill all the gaps in our biological knowledge discussed at length
in [6] is that all the basic cell processes, both those of normal cells and those
of tumor cells, take place at a submicroscopic level, and, more specifically,
between and within single biologically important macromolecules called
DNA, RNA, and protein molecules. However, it has only recently become
possible to begin developing the experimental techniques necessary for
attacking somatic cell problems at the molecular level. Before such direct
experimental attacks become possible, the finer details can only be studied
by applying theoretical analyses.
The main problem is, consequently, to make from our present physicochemical knowledge of basic atomic and molecular processes as realistic
assumptions as possible about the primary processes. Next, to work out
from these assumptions as detailed quantitative predictions as possible
about all the results of a quantitative nature which may with present tech-
N. ARLEY
"Wenn ich in den Griibeleien eines langen Lebens etwas gelernt habe, so ist
es dies, daB wir von einer tiefen Einsicht in die elementaren Vorgange viel weiter
entfernt sind, als die meisten Zeitgenossen glauben" (p. 397 in [10]). ("If I have
learned something from the speculations of a long life, then it is that we are a
much longer distance away from a deep insight into the elementary processes of
Nature than most of our contemporaries believe").
Actually all those basic problems in physics mentioned by EINSTEIN in
1938 as unsolved [9], are still as unsolved today as they were 25 years ago,
and one of the most fundamental problems regarding our concept of time,
discussed for more than 60 years since the publication of EINSTEIN'S first
paper on his relativity theory, has only recently been cleared up [4]. It is
also a conspicuous fact that we do not yet know the basic causes of such
elementary biological phenomena as every individual Man has observed
throughout 100,000's of years and still observes today: why we are all
going to die, why the growth of every child stops at maturity, why we all
need sleep every day.
It is, therefore, no wonder that we still know so little about the basic
biological problems of both normal and pathological cells, such as why
cells divide, why cells differentiate into various tissues, how cells manage
to build themselves in their metabolism the new specific molecules they
need, and how ionizing radiation interferes with the normal processes of
the cells, the damaging effects of which may in some circumstances take
15-20 or more years to be observable (fig. XII. 1 p. 139 in [7]).
At my Oslo institute we have recently tried to give a comprehensive
review of what we know, of what we do not know, and of what experimental and theoretical methods of investigation we may today hope will be
most fruitful for extending our knowledge about some of these basic
biological problems [6]. Now the research of the last decade or so has made
it more and more probable that the reason why it has turned out to be so
difficult to fill all the gaps in our biological knowledge discussed at length
in [6] is that all the basic cell processes, both those of normal cells and those
of tumor cells, take place at a submicroscopic level, and, more specifically,
between and within single biologically important macromolecules called
DNA, RNA, and protein molecules. However, it has only recently become
possible to begin developing the experimental techniques necessary for
attacking somatic cell problems at the molecular level. Before such direct
experimental attacks become possible, the finer details can only be studied
by applying theoretical analyses.
The main problem is, consequently, to make from our present physicochemical knowledge of basic atomic and molecular processes as realistic
assumptions as possible about the primary processes. Next, to work out
from these assumptions as detailed quantitative predictions as possible
about all the results of a quantitative nature which may with present tech-