How a Physicist's "Postdigital Prophecy" Sparked a Biological Revolution
February 1943 - The Dublin Lectures That Changed Science
Seventy years ago, in February 1943, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger stood before an audience of about 400 at Trinity College Dublin to deliver a series of lectures entitled "What is Life?"4 7 . At first glance, this seemed an unusual topic for a quantum physicist renowned for his wave equation and the famous thought experiment involving a cat simultaneously alive and dead2 . Yet these lectures, published as a book the following year, would eventually inspire a revolution in biology, introducing concepts that would guide scientists toward one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century: the structure of DNA4 7 .
Schrödinger's central question was both profound and simple: "how can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?"7
In asking this, he wasn't merely dabbling in another field. He was proposing a radical fusion of physics and biology that would popularize the idea of a 'genetic code' and inspire a generation of physicists, chemists, and mathematicians to migrate to biology, instigating what we now know as the molecular revolution1 .
At the heart of Schrödinger's lectures was a revolutionary idea—that the genetic material must be what he called an "aperiodic solid" containing a "code-script" that determined "the entire pattern of the individual's future development and of its functioning in the mature state"4 7 . This was the first clear suggestion that genes contained some kind of code, though his meaning wasn't identical to how we understand genetic code today4 .
This molecule would be relatively small and stable, despite the apparent statistical improbability of such stability7 .
Life maintains order while evading thermodynamic decay through maintaining negative entropy in an open system7 .
Schrödinger's approach reflected what has been called an "optimizing mentality"—the treatment of biological complexity as an optimization problem1 .
Schrödinger's approach reflected what has been called an "optimizing mentality"—the treatment of biological complexity as an optimization problem of matching function to form1 . This style of thinking, with its theological undertones, can be traced back to late seventeenth-century Europe as a strategy for rationalizing apparent imperfections in nature1 .
Unlike Neo-Darwinian thinkers who would later see design in nature as illusory, Schrödinger took the presence of design as a challenging frontier for scientific research1 . This perspective aligned with earlier thinkers like William Paley, who argued for the 'irreducible complexity' of organisms as demonstration of intelligent design, though Schrödinger provided secular, scientifically updated versions of these premises1 .
Though Schrödinger didn't conduct experimental work himself, his conceptual framework directly inspired the research that would confirm his predictions. The most famous beneficiaries of his thinking were James Watson and Francis Crick, who jointly discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 19534 7 .
Distribution of key methodologies in DNA discovery
The critical steps in this discovery process were:
As early as 1947, Chargaff had suggested that "a single base change could produce far-reaching changes... it is not impossible that rearrangements of this type are among the causes of the occurrence of mutations"4 —a direct anticipation of how DNA actually functions.
Watson and Crick's discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953 provided the physical embodiment of Schrödinger's theoretical "aperiodic crystal"7 . Their model revealed how a molecule could be both stable and information-rich, with the precise sequence of bases serving as the code carrying genetic information4 .
| Concept | Discovery | Scientists |
|---|---|---|
| "Aperiodic crystal" | DNA double helix | Watson, Crick, Franklin, Wilkins |
| "Code-script" | Sequence of nucleotide bases | Watson, Crick |
| Hereditary molecule | DNA as genetic material | Avery, Hershey-Chase |
| Quantum stability | Chemical bonding in DNA | Multiple researchers |
Schrödinger's Dublin lectures
Introduced "code-script" concept
"What is Life?" published
Book reaches wider audience
Avery's experiments
Evidence that DNA is genetic material
Chargaff's biochemical analyses
Shows DNA composition varies by species
Hershey-Chase experiment
Confirms DNA as hereditary molecule
Watson & Crick's double helix model
Physical structure of genetic material
The significance of this discovery cannot be overstated—it provided the mechanism for heredity that Schrödinger had postulated. The structure immediately suggested how genetic information could be stored, replicated, and passed to future generations. Both Watson and Crick independently acknowledged Schrödinger's book as a source of inspiration for their initial researches7 .
Perhaps the most far-reaching impact of Schrödinger's work was how it introduced information theory into biology. Though Schrödinger used the term "code-script," the concept of information entered biology through wartime research on "fire control" and information theory developed by Claude Shannon and Norbert Wiener4 .
The first person to argue explicitly that a gene contains information was John von Neumann, who in 1948 described a gene as a "tape" that could program the organism—similar to Alan Turing's universal Turing machine4 . This convergence of biology with computing and information science would eventually lead to the modern era of genetics and molecular biology.
When Watson and Crick published their second article on DNA structure in 1953, they casually employed these new concepts, stating: "it therefore seems likely that the precise sequence of the bases is the code which carries the genetical information"4 . These words, now uttered in biology classes worldwide every day, marked the culmination of Schrödinger's prophetic vision.
Today, Schrödinger's interdisciplinary approach has evolved into what some scholars term "postdigital" science—recognizing that the digital revolution has become so integrated into research that we're now in an era where we can reflect on its impact and move beyond initial euphoria to more nuanced applications1 .
Investigating quantum effects in biological processes3 .
For solving the Schrödinger equation for complex molecules5 .
For molecular simulations6 .
Exploring how cells respond to mechanical forces.
Schrödinger's "What is Life?" remains a paradigm case of interdisciplinary persuasion with radical transformative intent1 . Its most significant achievement was to provide a compelling physical framework for understanding heredity, bridging the gap between physics and biology when the two fields seemed worlds apart.
The book succeeded where others had failed because it presented the problem of life not as mysterious or paradoxical, but as a frontier research problem—one that required new physical thinking but was ultimately solvable through existing scientific principles1 7 .
As we continue to unravel the complexities of life—from gene editing to synthetic biology—Schrödinger's interdisciplinary spirit remains more relevant than ever. His work stands as a powerful testament to how looking at one field through the lens of another can spark revolutions that change our understanding of the world forever.
| Field | Impact |
|---|---|
| Molecular Biology | Inspired DNA structure discovery |
| Physics-Biology Interface | Created new interdisciplinary field |
| Information Theory | Introduced information concept to biology |
| Philosophy of Science | Exploration of consciousness & determinism |
In the end, Schrödinger's true prophecy wasn't merely predicting the physical basis of heredity, but demonstrating the power of cross-disciplinary thinking to solve problems that seem intractable from within a single field. As we face new scientific challenges in the 21st century—from climate change to neurodegenerative diseases—his example of bold interdisciplinary exploration may be his most enduring legacy.