Kersten Hall is a visiting fellow in the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, UK. After graduating in biochemistry from St. Anne’s College, Oxford, he embarked on PhD research into gene regulation in viruses, and then worked as a molecular biologist at the University of Leeds before turning to writing about the history of science. His 2014 book ‘The Man in the Monkeynut Coat’ told the little known story of how research into wool fibres for the textile industries of Northern England played a crucial part in the discovery of the structure of DNA, and ‘Insulin – the Crooked Timber’ (2022) explored the controversies around the discovery of insulin and how it became a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical thanks to genetic engineering. Ralf Dahm is Director of Scientific Management at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Padua, Italy. He obtained his MSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee, Scotland, before working as a postdoctoral researcher with Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany. He subsequently was a group leader at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also obtained his habilitation in neuroscience, and Director of Scientific Management at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid, Spain.

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• Introduction.- 1. ‘The Quiet in the Land’.- 2. Lifting the Veil.- 3. Blood Feud.- 4. The Sperm Campaign.- 5. The Great Unwashed.- 6. Hacking the Heads off the Hydra.- 7. ‘The Wooden Stretcher Behind the Rembrandt’?.-  8. ‘The Grammar of Biology’.- 9. ‘What is Life?’.- 10. Opening the Book of Life.- 11. Breaking the Glass.- 12. The Struggle of Sisyphus.- Epilogue.- List of Figures.- Further Reading.- Bibliography.

Kersten Hall is a visiting fellow in the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, UK. After graduating in biochemistry from St. Anne’s College, Oxford, he embarked on PhD research into gene regulation in viruses, and then worked as a molecular biologist at the University of Leeds before turning to writing about the history of science. His 2014 book ‘The Man in the Monkeynut Coat’ told the little known story of how research into wool fibres for the textile industries of Northern England played a crucial part in the discovery of the structure of DNA, and ‘Insulin – the Crooked Timber’ (2022) explored the controversies around the discovery of insulin and how it became a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical thanks to genetic engineering. Ralf Dahm is Director of Scientific Management at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Padua, Italy. He obtained his MSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee, Scotland, before working as a postdoctoral researcher with Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany. He subsequently was a group leader at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also obtained his habilitation in neuroscience, and Director of Scientific Management at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid, Spain.

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• Introduction.- 1. ‘The Quiet in the Land’.- 2. Lifting the Veil.- 3. Blood Feud.- 4. The Sperm Campaign.- 5. The Great Unwashed.- 6. Hacking the Heads off the Hydra.- 7. ‘The Wooden Stretcher Behind the Rembrandt’?.-  8. ‘The Grammar of Biology’.- 9. ‘What is Life?’.- 10. Opening the Book of Life.- 11. Breaking the Glass.- 12. The Struggle of Sisyphus.- Epilogue.- List of Figures.- Further Reading.- Bibliography.

Kersten Hall is a visiting fellow in the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, UK. After graduating in biochemistry from St. Anne’s College, Oxford, he embarked on PhD research into gene regulation in viruses, and then worked as a molecular biologist at the University of Leeds before turning to writing about the history of science. His 2014 book ‘The Man in the Monkeynut Coat’ told the little known story of how research into wool fibres for the textile industries of Northern England played a crucial part in the discovery of the structure of DNA, and ‘Insulin – the Crooked Timber’ (2022) explored the controversies around the discovery of insulin and how it became a multi-million dollar pharmaceutical thanks to genetic engineering. Ralf Dahm is Director of Scientific Management at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Padua, Italy. He obtained his MSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee, Scotland, before working as a postdoctoral researcher with Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany. He subsequently was a group leader at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also obtained his habilitation in neuroscience, and Director of Scientific Management at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid, Spain.

Select Guide Rating

• Introduction.- 1. ‘The Quiet in the Land’.- 2. Lifting the Veil.- 3. Blood Feud.- 4. The Sperm Campaign.- 5. The Great Unwashed.- 6. Hacking the Heads off the Hydra.- 7. ‘The Wooden Stretcher Behind the Rembrandt’?.-  8. ‘The Grammar of Biology’.- 9. ‘What is Life?’.- 10. Opening the Book of Life.- 11. Breaking the Glass.- 12. The Struggle of Sisyphus.- Epilogue.- List of Figures.- Further Reading.- Bibliography.