What is Life?

Nobel laureate Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist's exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman, but proved one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of the structure of DNA. The philosopher Karl Popper hailed it as a 'beautiful and important book' by 'a great man to whom I owe a personal debt for many exciting discussions'. It appears here together with Mind and Matter, his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times. Schrodinger asks what place consciousness occupies in the evolution of life, and what part the state of development of the human mind plays in moral questions. Brought together with these two classics are Schrodinger's autobiographical sketches, published and translated here for the first time. They offer a fascinating fragmentary account of his life as a background to his scientific writings, making this volume a valuable additon to the shelves of scientist and layman alike.

作者简介 埃尔温•薛定谔（Erwin Schr•dinger，1887—1961），奥地利物理学家，量子物理奠基人之一，因提出举世闻名的波动力方程而荣获1933年诺贝尔物理学奖。1943年，他在都柏林三一学院的系列讲座中，阐述了对生命本质现象的思考，后来他将这些观点和论断整合，出版了《生命是什么》一书。这部小书是20世纪具有影响力的科学著作之一，吸引了许多物理学家转投生物学，直接启发了DNA双螺旋结构模型的发现，并且推动了分子生物学的诞生。 译者简介 梁震宇，广东广州人，荷兰代尔夫特理工大学与莱顿大学产业生态学理学硕士。嗜读书，爱写作，偶尔与古典乐同好排练演出。现居荷兰，主要从事笔译工作、跨文化交流与学术会议交替传译，兼职教授中文。